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Content about International Olympic Committee

August 9, 2012
Protest calls for lifting of gay games ban at Sochi Olympics

Peter Tatchell leads picket of Sochi Park in London, claiming Russian ban on Pride House is an 'attack on freedom of expression'

Campaigners led by veteran gay rights activist Peter Tatchell protested in London today (9 August) over Russia's ban on a gay event at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Protesters picketed the Sochi House exhibition in Kensington Gardens holding signs demanding that the International Olympic Committee step in to force the Russian authorities to reverse their decision not to allow a Pride House at the games.

August 8, 2012
Protest against gay games event ban at Sochi Olympics

Campaigners call on IOC to intervene to lift Russia's ban on Pride House at 2014 Winter Olympics

Gay rights campaigners will hold a protest in London over Russia's ban on a Pride House event at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Activists will picket the Sochi Exhibition in Kensington Gardens tomorrow (9 August), from 10.30am, to show their anger at the Russian Ministry of Justice's refusal to allow a Pride House at the games.

Russian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender campaigners had planned the venue to be a meeting place for gay athletes and their supporters with events including a sports competition and photo exhibition.

July 26, 2012
Activists protest Olympic ‘gender police’ over sex tests

International LGBTI activists say the new policy for testing if female athletes are ‘real women’ is ‘unscientific, discriminatory and ineffective’

With the 2012 Summer Olympics set to open tomorrow, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) faces a new scandal over its gender testing.

The gender verification policy is designed to determine whether intersex athletes should compete as women or men.

Intersex people may quite naturally produce higher levels of male or female than average for their identified gender.

July 23, 2012
Protesters call for Olympics chiefs to end gay hate in sport

Demonstration outside IOC's hotel in London urges for ban on Olympics ban for countries which discriminate in sport

Protesters called on Olympics bosses to enforce its charter on discrimination and end homophobia in sport.

Yesterday (22 July), renowned gay rights activist Peter Tatchell led the demonstration outside the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London, which is hosting the International Olympic Committee for the duration of the 2012 games.

'The IOC should disqualify from the Olympics countries that discriminate against athletes on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, religion/belief, sexual orientation or gender identity,' Tatchell said.

July 20, 2012
Speck of gold: Meet the openly gay Olympians

A tiny fraction, far less than 1%, of athletes at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics will be openly LGBT – meet the few who are going for gold

With Olympics bosses accused of failing to stand up for the rights of gay athletes, just how many out LGBT sportsmen and women are there competing in this year’s games? The answer: Not a lot.

According to blog Outsports.com, there are only 18 athletes playing for our team out of a total of 12,602. That’s a shocking less than 0.008%.

July 19, 2012
Olympic bosses 'all talk and no action' on gay rights

Activist Peter Tatchell slams IOC for 'ignoring' his calls for countries to sign equality pledge or face a ban from the games

Olympics bosses have been slammed as ‘all talk and no action’ after ‘ignoring’ calls to ban countries which discriminate against LGBT people in sport from taking part in the games.

In a response to Gay Star News, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) claimed ‘any unsporting behavior’ would be a ‘serious breach’ of the event’s charter.

July 18, 2012
Letter calls on Olympic bosses to stand up for gay rights

Activist Peter Tatchell calls on nations to sign 'equality pledge' for LGBT rights or be banned from London 2012

Activist Peter Tatchell has written an open letter to Olympic bosses urging them to make a stand for gay rights by banning homophobic countries from competing in the games.

In an open letter to Olympic chiefs Jacques Rogge and Lord Coe, Tatchell calls on participating countries which are known to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to sign a pledge supporting equal rights or be disqualified from the sporting event.

April 1, 2012
Olympics adds gay pink ring to flag

International Olympic Committee will unveil new flag at London closing ceremony for Russia and Brazil games to push LGBT sport

UPDATE: This was our 2012 April Fool's Day story. Whether we fooled you or not, we hope you enjoyed it.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to alter the Olympic flag for four years in a global drive to tackle homophobia and transphobia in sport.

Gay Star News can exclusively reveal today (1 April) that a pink ring will be added to the Olympic flag to symbolize lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex sportspeople.

March 20, 2012
Olympic bosses comment on gay games event ban

International Olympic Committee says discrimination is banned but fail to slap down Russian authorities who have outlawed Pride House from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi

Olympic bosses have backed equality at the 2014 Winter games but avoided criticizing Russian authorities who have banned a gay Pride House from the event.

The first Pride House was held at the Winter Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada and it set to be repeated at the 2012 games in London this summer.