Tom Daley Says He Will Fight for Olympic Ban on Anti-LGBTQ+ Countries

While collecting the Attitude Sport Award on Thursday, U.K. Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley called out the countries that participate in the Olympics that still persecute LGBTQ+ people.

Daley said that even with so many out athletes at the recent Tokyo Olympic Games, more can be done for athletes from countries with poor LGBTQ+ rights records.

"These past Olympic Games there were more out LGBT athletes than at any of the previous Olympics combined, which is a great step forward," Daley said in his acceptance speech. "Yet there are still 10 countries that punish being gay with death that were still allowed to compete at the Olympic Games."

"It's all well and good speaking about those things but I think it's really important to try and create change rather than just highlighting and shining a light on those things," he said.

During the Tokyo Olympics, 10 participating countries allowed for the death penalty against those accused of same-sex relations, including Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, according to them.

Daley announced that he would campaign to ensure that countries that criminalize being LGBTQ+ would not be allowed to compete in the next summer games.

"I want to make it my mission before the Paris Olympics in 2024 to make it so that the countries that criminalize and make it punishable by death for LGBT people are not allowed to compete at the Olympic Games," he said.

He also said that those countries shouldn't host the games either, and pointed at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar as an example.

"The World Cup coming up in Qatar has extreme rules against LGBT people and women and I think it should not be allowed for a sporting event to host in a country that criminalizes against basic human rights," Daley said.