U.S. Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon is not happy that Vice President Mike Pence is leading the U.S. delegation to South Korea for the Winter Olympics.
Rippon spoke with USA Today about the choice: “You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy? I’m not buying it.”
Rippon said he’d avoid a meet-and-greet with Pence because of his views: “If it were before my event, I would absolutely not go out of my way to meet somebody who I felt has gone out of their way to not only show that they aren’t a friend of a gay person but that they think that they’re sick.”
Rippon also said that Pence does not have a “real concept of reality” if he declares himself to be a “devout Christian” and stands by Donald Trump’s policies: “If he’s okay with what’s being said about people and Americans and foreigners and about different countries that are being called ‘s—holes,’ I think he should really go to church.”
Rippon said he might speak to Pence if he felt there was a way to have “an open conversation.”
Rippon told the BBC last week that he won’t go to the White House if invited.
“I don’t think somebody like me would be welcome there,” said Rippon, 28. “I know what it’s like to go into a room and feel like you’re not wanted.”
Rippon added that he’s not afraid to speak his mind: “I think it’s important that we stand up for what we believe in and we speak out against thinks that we think are wrong and unjust.”
He also said: “If I talked to people the way that President Trump talks to people my mom would kick my ass.”
Said Rippon to reporters in early January: “A few weeks ago, I was asked in an interview – and I tweeted about it – that they asked me, what was it like being a gay athlete in sports? And I said, it’s exactly like being a straight athlete, only with better eyebrows…Growing up, I really didn’t have a lot of role models. And I said, if I was ever given the chance and the platform, I would share my story….Because I don’t really care what other people think of me. I’m able to go out there and I’m really able to be, like, unabashedly myself. And I want somebody who’s young, who’s struggling, who’s not sure if it’s OK if they are themselves to know that it’s OK.”
