JAKARTA - The 2024 Paris Olympics openly welcomes the athletes who identify as LGBTQ+ to compete.
The number of LGBTQ+ athletes competing in Paris even broke records. With inclusion and diversity jargon capital, 191 athletes openly said that they were LGBTQ+ and participated in the 2024 Olympics.
According to Outsports, an organization that compiles an Olympic athlete database, says most female athletes are publicly intenting as queers.
That number has beat the previous record, which was 186 athletes at the 2024 Tokyo Olympics. No wonder, it is estimated that that number will increase at the upcoming Olympics.
"The more people come out. They realize the importance to look at it because there is no other way to get a representation," said Jim Buzinski, co-founder of Outsports.
The number of people willing to be the center of attention as LGBTQ+ Olympic athletes has skyrocketed in recent decades.
Buzinski said that when they started tracking down the number of participants at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, they only counted about five people.
The organizers of the Paris Olympics have underlined diversity and inclusiveness as the main theme. Transvestites' appearance at the opening ceremony also showed this despite the strong reaction from religious conservatives.
"In the world of the Olympics, we are all included," said Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in a speech at the opening ceremony.
Therefore, Paris' reputation as 'City of Love is seen by LGBTQ+ supporters that the Paris Olympics is an opportunity for athletes from any part of the world to publicly declare themselves LGBTQ+.
"Come to Paris, come to France, they can be who they really are," said Jeremy Goupille, one of the Pride House Heads at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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LGBTQ+ application
The Pride House, is a special home for athletes, volunteers, and LGBTQ+ visitors who attend the Olympics, Paralympics, or other international sporting events in the host city.
Pride House first appeared at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Goupille says security issues still arise for many LGBTQ+ athletes. Dating and network expansion applications, such as Grindr, Bumble, and Tinder, have long been used as shields for these athletes who want to connect with the likes of the country where they compete without feeling exposed in public.
However, he said at the previous Olympics, some people had tried to expose LGBTQ+ athletes who were not officially open with high checks, weights, and locations of people on the app.
Karena itu, Grindr mengumumkan bahwa di Paris mereka telah mengaktifkan fitur berbasis lokasi di Perkampung Atlet dan area Olimpiade resmi lainnya.
It will allow LGBTQ+ athletes to connect authentically without worrying about spying or unwanted attention.
The app made the same decision for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
"If an athlete is not open or comes from a country where being LGBTQ+ is dangerous or illegal, using Grindr can put them at risk exposed by people who are curious and may try to identify and expose them in the app," Grindr said in a statement.
LGBTQ + dating accommodation which received support at the 2024 Paris Olympics some time ago drew criticism. However, still, France as the host is very protective.
"You have to protect them because so many bad people. At the same time, there are so many beautiful athletes. They want to meet someone and it's difficult," Goupille said.
Previously, the 2024 Paris Olympics had drawn criticism because of the issue of transgender boxing athletes being allowed to compete.
Not to mention the issue of France's security support for Israeli athletes amid criticism of the pro-Palestinian rejection and movement.
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