Comments on: US Olympic Committee goes anti-gay

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 21:06:34 +0000

I vaguely recall there were things named “Rodent Olympics” or something like that that the Gay Olympics entered as evidence. Apparently the OC did not mind its use for animals. Just by f*gs.

By: Gary Brewton

Gary Brewton — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 02:53:41 +0000

The US Olympic Committee persecuted Gay Olympics founder Dr. Tom Waddell, trying to take his home: http://articles.latimes.com/1986-10-21/news/mn-6558_1_gay-olympics. This is fag bashing; because it about went far beyond preserving the USOC sole right to use the Olympic name, into the realm of vindictiveness.

By: tristram

tristram — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 02:29:19 +0000

I’ve had the privilege of volunteering at SO events, and whatever the issues involving other groups (even one dear to my heart) using the term ‘olympic,’ I think the Special Olympics are unquestionably deserving of an exception, even if it’s the only one.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:47:23 +0000

yes, that is the one exception that they made.

By: TampaZeke

TampaZeke — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:29:17 +0000

They didn’t go after the Special Olympics.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:34:46 +0000

And while I understand the outrage about the denial of the use of Gay Olympics, it appears that there was a LONG history of denial of the use of the name, especially for international sports events.

http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20060307090517/http://www.internationalgames.net/topics/gayolympics.htm

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:26:24 +0000

One interesting side note:

The young attorney representing the USOC argued that it didn’t matter for what reason they wanted to restrict their name or from whom, it belonged to the US Olympic Committee and was theirs to do with, right or wrong.

In 1987, Ronald Reagan appointed that young attorney to the federal bench. His appointment was opposed by Nancy Pelosi due to his USOC work, as she felt it demonstrated an insensitivity to gay people. His bid failed.

However, in 1989 he was re-nominated by George HW Bush and received unanimous consent. He served in the Ninth Circuit as a judge until he recently retired, after ruling on the most controversial and high profile case of his career.

That attorney was Vaughn Walker, the judge that overturned Proposition 8.

By: TampaZeke

TampaZeke — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 22:36:13 +0000

Michael beat me to it.

The Olympic committee has never seemed to be bothered or punished for their long history of homophobia. I don’t see this latest development bothering too many people.

By: Michael van Atta

Michael van Atta — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 21:24:49 +0000

The Olympic Committee has a well-established homophobic past. In the 1980s, the Committee selectively sued the Gay Olympics (now called the Gay Games) in order to prevent the homosexuals from using the word “olympics.” The premise of the suit was that use of the word sullied its meaning and, by extension, was damaging to the mainstream Olympics. Gay Olympics was the only party sued, even though word “olympics” appeared widely at that time–from Special Olympics to the Saturday morning cartoon “Laugh-Olympics” (which I believe was the one with the villain Snidely Whiplash). Unfortunately, the Olympic Committee won their suit, which is why the Gay Olympics became the Gay Games.