The Olympic diver has always been proud to represent his country. But making a documentary about gay rights in the Commonwealth led to a revelation
om Daley sounds as if he’s still in shock. Britain’s most celebrated diver recently returned from visiting various Commonwealth countries to investigate LGBTQ+ rights. Of course he knew there were issues; that in much of the Commonwealth homosexuality is still criminalised, thanks to the British empire exporting draconian homophobic laws to the colonies in the 19th century. But knowing something is different from meeting the people who live with those threats on a daily basis.
Daley has so much to say that he doesn’t quite know where to start. So it all pours out at once. “There are so many horror stories. I met an athlete in Jamaica who came in a hoodie, and sat behind a curtain with her voice distorted. She didn’t want me to know her name because their lives are in danger if they are named. In Lahore, I spoke to an athlete that had to remain anonymous because she is incredibly high profile. She had a gay friend who was killed, stoned in the streets.
How’s Robbie? “He’s great! Robbie’s got a lot of personality!” Daley tells me he loves to climb up things and jump off them. “It scares the living daylights out of me. Lance says, ‘What do you expect? You climb up things and jump off them for a living.’ When I look back, I wonder how my parents dealt with watching me do what I do every day and not be petrified.” He says Robbie has recently learned to swim.
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