Tom Daley: Illegal to Be Me (2022) Movie Script
This programme contains scenes which
some viewers may find upsetting,
very strong language and
discriminatory language and content
from the start.
I'm Tom Daley.
I'm an athlete, and I'm gay.
It hasn't always been easy
for me to say that.
TOM: Thank you very much.
VO: In London 2012,
out of nearly 11,000 athletes,
only 23 were openly LGBT.
There were more athletes
called James at those Olympics
than people that were out.
There clearly were more athletes
that were closeted.
I mean, I was one of them.
CHEERING
London 2012 was the pinnacle
of what I'd been dreaming of
my whole diving career,
but back then was probably when
I was most scared of being outed.
It was terrifying, and this was
my way of being able to feel free,
even though I was far from
feeling free in real life.
JOURNALISTS SHOUSince then, my life's changed,
and I'm a husband...
TOM: Hello, Robbie!
..and a father to Robbie.
TOM ON VIDEO: I met someone,
and, well, that someone...
VO: Getting here wasn't easy.
..is a guy.
What I remember about it was you
literally shaking, like this.
"Tom Daley is gay. I am now
ashamed of my country. Eww.
"We can't have a bloody fag
representing us."
But many gay athletes
have it so much worse.
My stepdad found out
where I was living
and he beat me
and he threw acid at me.
In over half the countries competing
in this year's Commonwealth Games,
being gay is illegal, and can lead
to horrific attacks.
Sad doesn't even cover it.
It's like something out of,
like, a horror film.
Real dark horror film.
I want to find out where
all this hatred came from.
It honestly makes me feel sick
to be British.
I get that. That's level one.
Level two is, "Now what?"
And now I'm launching a campaign
to get the sporting world
to try and change things.
I want sporting events to take note,
because we're not going anywhere.
This is my trophy cabinet.
At the top
we've got World Championships,
then we've got Olympic.
And then down here we've got
European and Commonwealth.
On the Sydney Cricket Ground,
it's the opening day
of the Empire Games,
the Olympics of the British
Commonwealth of Nations.
STARTER PISTOL FIRES
The Games are on!
The Commonwealth Games started life
as the British Empire Games,
aiming to unite the countries
that were under British rule
through sport.
Here's some real high diving.
By the time I competed,
the Empire was over
and the Games had been rebranded.
The Commonwealth Games
now takes place every four years
and has a global audience
of 1.5 billion.
This is the dive that Tom Daley fans
have been waiting for.
So I got two golds in Delhi 2010.
I mean, it's 12 years ago now.
It makes me feel a bit old.
Then from Glasgow,
gold in the men's 10m individual
and silver in the synchro.
And then the last one...
So here's the case for it.
And there was a Commonwealth
gold medal in there.
But now...
..I've lost a Gold Coast medal.
Robbie goes in here all the time
and just gets medals
and puts them on and runs around
and calls them his necklaces.
CLANKING
Any of these gold?
Oh, yes.
That is my most recent
Commonwealth Games gold medal,
which is from Gold Coast 2018.
This year, the Games
is in Birmingham,
with over 4,000 athletes
competing in more than 280 events.
But there's an issue
that no-one's talking about.
The Commonwealth is home to
a third of the world's population
and is made up of 56 member states.
In over half of them,
it's illegal to be gay.
In many, you can get life
imprisonment - and in three,
you could even be
sentenced to death.
You start to question, should I feel
a little bit like, "Ooh,"
about these medals,
or should I be proud of them?
Because what kind of message
is that sending?
I would be illegal to exist
in 35 of the 56 sovereign states
of the Commonwealth.
I mean, that's just outrageous.
These days, most international
sporting bodies
claim that they're inclusive
of LGBT people.
But just this year,
the Football World Cup and Formula 1
are both being hosted in countries
which have the death penalty
for being gay.
As a former medal-winner,
the Commonwealth Games
is close to my heart,
and I want to convince it
to become the first sporting event
to really take a stand.
I've been told that sport
and politics shouldn't collide,
but at the same time,
you have to acknowledge
what's going on around you.
My wish right now is to try and get
the Commonwealth Games to say
that they will not allow any country
that has anti-LGBT laws
to be able to host
the Commonwealth Games.
And I know that is a bold wish,
but it has to start somewhere,
to try and create some change.
It's easy to think
I have the answer, but I don't know
what it's really like to be a gay
athlete around the Commonwealth.
I've decided to go to Pakistan -
one of the world's most dangerous
places to be gay.
I'm slightly nervous because
I'm going to a country where,
you know, being gay
can get you the death penalty.
It's a pretty intense thought.
I still have so much to learn.
I just want to be able to meet some
queer athletes, hear their stories,
and also ask them what they think
is the right thing.
What is it that you think
that these organising committees
should be doing?
Going to go to
Heathrow Terminal 3, please.
VO: I am very aware that
I come from a place of privilege
and I don't know what
the right solution is,
but that's what
I'm hoping to find out.
Pakistan has different shades
of opinion
when it comes to homosexuality.
But the country's laws emerged
from the British Empire
and have changed to reflect its
conservative and religious culture.
Today, the maximum punishment
for being gay is death by stoning.
It's never been officially carried
out, but it's created an environment
where vigilante groups
take the law into their own hands,
and gay people live under the threat
of humiliation,
blackmail and violence.
I am concerned that people
will find out, like, why we're here,
what we're filming,
what we're doing and, you know,
we're going to extreme lengths
to make sure that we are
keeping ourselves safe,
but most importantly, the people
that we're talking to safe.
We have a security guard
following us,
although we have to keep them
out of earshot
about what we're actually
talking about.
Although they still face
persecution,
transgender people have had legal
rights in Pakistan since 2018.
But the laws against homosexuality
mean that finding someone prepared
to talk has been really difficult.
Good morning. How are you?
I'm good. I'm good. Good.
Thank you for having me. Sure.
I'm meeting a cricketer
who spent years
playing for Pakistan's
national women's team.
We were going to meet at
the local cricket ground,
but her fear of being overheard
means we're now meeting
at a safe house,
and she doesn't want her name
to be used.
There you go.
Thank you so much.
Given the risks, why did you
choose to speak to me?
I thought that
this is the right time.
Somebody needs to speak out.
I built up that courage
and I said, "OK, let's do it."
Maybe it can make an impact.
Maybe things will be changed a bit.
People here,
even the psychologists here,
they think being queer
is a disease.
Wow. Yes.
So either will take you
to the witch doctor
and try to get it fixed,
or the best solution, if you're
a queer man or a queer woman,
to get you married,
make you sleep with that person,
have a baby, and after the baby,
everything will be fine.
That is the concept
we have in Pakistan. Wow.
Yeah.
What was your experience
in the sporting world?
How would other players treat you?
They needed me
because I was a good player.
But while we are travelling,
I used to sit alone.
While we used to have rooms,
they don't want to share with me
because they don't feel safe.
They find me as a mutant.
They were... As a mutant? Yeah.
Like a disease spreads.
Like a disease, yeah.
Must've been really hard.
Did you have to completely
suppress who you were and just...?
Of course. Very fortunately,
I never fell for drugs.
But I see people around me
who are gays or lesbians
that they have drowned themselves
into antidepressants or drugs
or alcohol or any other substance
abuse which keeps them numb.
I've seen them hurting themselves.
I've seen them
trying to kill themselves.
So what could the Commonwealth Games
Federation do in order to help?
Because I always thought banning
countries that have anti-LGBT laws
from hosting the event
might do something.
It won't make a difference,
because we are a country in denial.
They'll be like, "OK, ban us."
No matter how hard,
what pressure you put in.
This is against the religion.
They won't do it.
Talking to her about the idea
that I had
with the Commonwealth Games, I mean,
it feels like it's just going
to be so insignificant.
She doesn't think that
there's any hope of Pakistan
changing its laws
or changing its ideas.
Like, "Fine, don't bring a sporting
event here, we don't care.
"Not having gay and lesbian people
in our country
"is more important
than hosting a sporting event."
Some of Pakistan's most prominent
athletes have been forced
to hide their sexuality.
But I've managed to find someone
who is prepared to talk to me.
I'm about to go meet
a very high-profile
and very recognisable
Pakistani athlete,
and she's asked us
to conceal her identity
and also meet her at a safe house.
I think that just really
hammers home the harsh realities
of being a queer athlete
in Pakistan.
How does it make you feel
to represent Pakistan
when, if they knew the real you,
they might not accept you?
I try not to think about it, and put
all my energy into competing.
What would happen if you did
come out publicly here in Pakistan?
It would be big news.
Everyone would criticise me,
embarrass me, shame me,
maybe get violent.
Do you think you'll ever be able
to fall in love
and have a relationship here?
I was in a relationship, but she got
married and she went away.
She got married to a man?
Yes.
So she was forced into marriage?
Yes.
I went to the wedding venue,
but her brothers found out
and beat me bad.
It affected me for years.
I was in trauma and depression.
I stopped eating
and I wanted to end my life.
But I couldn't, because my parents
were dependent on me.
I'm sorry. It's just...
It just seems so unfair.
And no... No-one should be...
No-one should be put through that.
This is how Pakistan is.
Do you think there's any hope
for any queer kids growing up here?
Many times, I imagine a life
where I could breathe freely.
But it's not possible
here in Pakistan.
So...no hope?
I don't think so.
Honestly, I've never felt
more helpless in my life.
Like, just hearing her story,
her struggles, her fight...
Honestly, I just want to go home
to my husband and my son and just...
..hug them and, like, just that
level of appreciation and gratitude
of just being able to be safe
every day.
Finding a gay male athlete willing
to talk to me has been difficult.
But since coming to Pakistan,
I've been in touch with someone
who's hoping to compete
in this year's Commonwealth Games.
He's too scared to appear on camera,
even if we conceal his identity.
But he sent me a letter.
It starts with, "I cannot come
in front of the camera
"because of my family
and surroundings.
"They have no clue about
my orientation.
"But at the same time,
I face a lot of jokes calling me
"such as cake, gay,
and mostly called as arsehole.
"And name-calling
kills me from inside
"but I keep quiet
as this is my reality.
"My family wants me to get married
and start a family.
"Sometimes I feel like I should die
"and set my life free
from this trauma."
He sounds to me like
he's lost all hope.
He goes on to say, "Sir, I live
in Pakistan, the Islamic Republic.
"One of my friends
knows about my identity.
"He blackmailed me that he will tell
the Federation about my orientation,
"that I am gay.
I fear that I'll be killed."
"It won't make any difference
to Pakistan
"if banned from hosting
or competing in the Games."
The more I'm learning about athletes
here in Pakistan
is there's even more layers of
homophobia,
because it's not just family,
it's not just friends.
It's also team-mates
and federations.
It just feels like they're just
fighting an impossible fight.
Like everybody feels like no matter
what is done within sport,
that it will not make a difference
to Pakistan,
that nothing will make a difference,
and that there is no...
..no hope.
The laws in Pakistan are a result
of the country's complex political
and religious history.
And I'm struggling to see
what a sporting event
like the Commonwealth Games could do
to make a difference to the lives
of lesbian and gay athletes here.
I've been told to talk to
a controversial pop star
called Zulfi.
Zulfi is one of very few Pakistanis
who's tried to live
an openly gay life.
HORN BEEPS
But recently he's been forced
into hiding.
Hi, Zulfi. Hi, Thomas. How are you?
Thank you so much for talking to me
today. Of course, it's an honour.
Can you tell me a little bit
about what happened?
So I was part of an art-pop punk
band, and we did a photoshoot.
And that photoshoot was,
like, gay as shit.
We were in these purple,
pink sequins.
I had nipple pasties. Wow.
A big nod to Lady Gaga.
But that photoshoot just became
this super politicised moment
where, like, Pakistan and Islam
is being threatened
by these two baddies
in purple sequins.
And it was scary.
Like, there were death threats.
There were rape threats.
But people stopped me
on the street, saluted me,
shook my hand and told me,
"Thank you for doing what you did.
"We live in a better Pakistan
"because of people like you.
Keep it up."
So what I've been thinking
is to try and ban any countries
that have anti-LGBT laws from
hosting the Commonwealth Games.
Unfortunately, I think that
sort of a punitive measure
might only make things worse.
Like, "Oh, it's because
of you gay people
"that we can't host
the Games any more."
You cannot generate
something positive
from a negative sort of strategy.
And I hope that
there are protections
for queer people of any sorts
that empower them
instead of putting them
at risk again.
From what I'm just hearing from you,
it sounds like there is hope,
when I've been told that
there is no hope for queer people
in this country.
No, in Pakistan, queer people
have the hope of in fact
heralding a new Pakistan
that is free, that is respectful,
not out of fear, but out of love.
For me, this trip
has been so illuminating.
A lot of the things that I've heard
have been so awful.
But I've gone from feeling like
there's no hope
to speaking to Zulfi, and it has
given me a glimmer of hope.
So it's just made me rethink
a lot of my ideas of what I thought
was the right thing to do
around the Commonwealth Games
and actually leading with
a sense of love
rather than taking things away
from people.
It's easy to point the finger
around the Commonwealth,
but homosexuality only became fully
legal across the whole of the UK
in the 1980s.
And for me, growing up gay
certainly wasn't straightforward.
I'm Tom Daley. I'm 12 years old
and I'm from Plymouth,
and I want to win
an Olympic gold medal in...
..diving.
I used to hate everything
about myself -
the way I talked,
the way I walked -
and I tried to overachieve
in everything,
whether that's school,
whether that was diving.
NEWS: Diver Tom Daley will be the
youngest British male competitor
in our Olympic history.
I was always trying to overachieve
to distract from the fact
that I knew that I was gay
and I knew that I was going
to be seen as, like,
something that was bad
and something that was wrong.
And growing up,
I fought my own sexuality.
And I hated myself for that.
Hello! Hello!
Sophie's been my best friend
since I was a teenager,
back when I was trying to cope
with the pressures
of competing in the Olympics...
CHEERING
..and being at school.
I found some really funny photos
of when we were younger.
Oh, my God.
I feel like you haven't really
changed. No, I have!
You've just grown.
This, I think, was when I got back
from the Olympics in 2008.
All of a sudden, it was like
TV cameras and photographers
and it's like...look at that.
I mean, I'm smiling,
walking around like,
"Yep, can't wait to be at school."
And, you know, when the camera's
around, people were always like...
"Hiya!", and then as soon as they
went away, it was like... Yeah.
It almost felt some days that people
were, like, hunting me down
to try and, like, be horrible.
Yeah, so true.
It was just, "You're gay,"
or "You're queer,"
and there's so only so much
a 14-year-old can take.
It pushes you to breaking point.
And I broke and I was like,
"I... I can't keep doing this."
Everyone else probably thought
you were living
this incredible life.
But I think actually
what was happening at school
was something that was having
a massive effect
on your mental health.
Yeah, I look back on it now
and I feel sorry for young Tom
because at the time I was just like,
"Maybe I'm going just to be
unhappy all my life."
NEWS: This is Tom Daley,
the schoolboy
still too young to take his GCSEs,
even if he is old enough
to compete for his country.
Hello.
Hello, my lovely.
Oh...
Right.
When I won bronze
at the London Olympics,
I was still struggling with
who I was.
I was so scared of what would happen
to my career
if I admitted I was gay
that in my autobiography,
I didn't even mention it.
By the time I was ready
to come out to my family,
my dad had passed away.
My mum accepted me,
but not everyone else did.
This is literally exactly
where I stood
eight and a half years ago
when I told Grandma and Grandad.
So this is my mum and dad
you're talking about. Yeah.
Yeah. Your mum and dad
were stood here.
I was like...
What I remember about it
was you literally shaking
like this. Yeah.
Your whole body was shaking
cos you were that worried. Yeah.
I mean, I was terrified
because I'd just told
the other set of grandparents
and it didn't go so well.
It felt like I'd disappointed them
to the highest extreme level
that I could have. Mm.
It switched like that,
from being all love and hugs to...
Yeah. Like, "You disgust me."
Yeah.
I mean, they asked me
if it was natural and, you know,
"What would your dad say?"
It was absolutely awful.
And it's taken them a lot of time
to come to terms with me being gay.
But I'd like to think, as well,
that Dad would be proud
of who I am today
and, you know, married with a kid.
I mean, Robbie is named after Dad.
Yeah.
He would probably have made a joke
and taken the mick out of you,
but he would do that
whether you married Lance
or whether it was, like, Joanna
from down the street, say.
Yeah. It would have been the same
reaction. That was Dad, though.
But the whole worry was like,
"Oh, my gosh, what if...
"..everyone else in the world reacts
like some of my family did?" Mm.
NEWS: The Olympic diver Tom Daley
has posted a video online
revealing that he's in
a relationship with another man.
In an ideal world,
I wouldn't be doing this video,
because it shouldn't matter.
But I met someone,
and that someone...
..is a guy.
It was like
a really scary moment for me
because I'd been told
that I'd lose sponsors,
lose, like, my female fanbase,
and it was all going to go
to rubbish.
I'd lost my dad, and then I felt
like I had to support my family.
And what happens
if that all got taken away?
The thought about what abuse
I might get in the streets -
would I get beaten up?
Would I get things thrown at me?
I had no idea
what was going to happen.
This afternoon it was back
to training at the Plymouth pool
where he spends hours every week.
So I'm just looking at
some of the tweets
that I received when I came out.
"Tom Daley's came out that he's
a battyman, lol, fucking queer."
"Tom Daley is gay.
I am now ashamed of my country. Eww.
"We can't have a bloody fag
representing us."
Oh, my gosh.
It does hurt. It is horrible to
receive those comments,
like, you are saying
these horrible things about me.
And it's upsetting to think
that there are people out there
that have that strong of an opinion
that they felt like they had to
publicly say something
that was really attacking
a 19-year-old kid
about their sexuality.
It's...
Yeah, it's...
It makes me feel sad for humanity,
to be honest.
Like many gay athletes, it took me
years to finally feel accepted,
and I think the sporting world
should be doing more to help.
The international federation
that runs the Commonwealth Games
has just appointed a new CEO,
who claims she wants to do more.
The new Commonwealth Games
Federation chief executive
Katie Sadler, she's expressed
her determination
"that the 2022 Commonwealth Games
"will be the most inclusive
in history".
"Extending as far to allow athletes
to make podium protests
"and support their community.
Pride House in Birmingham,
"which aims to be a safe space
"for gay spectators,
athletes and officials,
"has already been announced.
"Sadler also wants
to meet Daley" - me.
Katie's just launched something
called the Commonwealth
Sport Pride Network,
which aims to support and connect
gay athletes during the Games.
On the website there's loads
of, you know, rainbow flags
and it's made to look
very inclusive.
But I do worry that it's slightly
rainbow-washing things,
and it all seems a little bit
airy-fairy to me.
Like, I want to be able to see
something where, you know,
they can say, "We did this,
and because we've done this,
"it's going to make this change."
Because right now it's just,
"We're going to create a Pride House
"and make the Commonwealth Games
inclusive."
Hello. Hi, Tom. Hi, Katie.
How are you? I'm very good.
Good to see you here.
Thank you so much for
taking the time to meet with me.
Oh, my pleasure.
Having looked on the website
and seeing the branding
and rainbows on stuff, do you think
that is enough to reach countries
that have anti-LGBT laws?
I think in the end,
you have to start somewhere.
What I can't do is change
the laws in those countries -
you know, I work for
a sport federation.
But, you know, from our perspective,
the Commonwealth Pride Network
is a start of starting to, you know,
even be more active
in terms of getting people
to understand how much we embrace it
and that it is acceptable.
But then what happens if, say,
Islamabad in Pakistan
wanted to host
the Commonwealth Games?
All members can bid
for hosting Commonwealth Games.
But when I look at what our
contract says for the host,
it's what you need to do in terms
of valuing the same values as we do
in terms of humanity,
equity and destiny.
That would be a kind of a baseline
in terms of making a decision.
Letting those countries know that,
"You don't align with our values."
I wonder if there is something that
can be done to explicitly state that
that is the inclusion
of LGBT people.
Is that something
that the federation would...?
So those are things, you know,
just listening to,
that I will take on board and go
back and have a look to make sure,
how overt are those kind of
statements in those documents?
But I know as a board that there is
a real commitment to the values
that we have stated.
And so, from that perspective,
it's really important to us.
I do worry that
the Commonwealth Games
might not implement any changes.
I mean, don't get me wrong,
they're doing way more now
than they ever were 20 years ago,
and things are constantly
moving forward,
but they have the opportunity
to be the blueprint
for other sporting events
that can create a huge difference
across the world.
It's four months
until the Commonwealth Games,
and I've decided to put together
a manifesto of changes
that should be made.
You know, I want to speak
to as many people as possible.
Get thoughts, ideas, opinions
to help me shape this manifesto.
What might make you feel safe
going to the Commonwealth Games?
If I see a rainbow pin
on a fellow athlete's jacket,
I think would make me feel like
I am not alone.
And it will definitely be a shock
to some of the homophobic athletes,
you know, and officials.
I've competed in the UAE.
I've competed in countries
that are extremely anti-gay.
Right. And it's bizarre.
Yeah. I want to believe, like,
it doesn't affect my performance,
but I've never competed well
in a homophobic country.
Like, I want to go to a country
where I can compete and be myself.
That's fair.
My idea is shifting.
It's about the culture within sport,
the fans, the organising committees.
It's so much more complex
than what I initially thought
was going to be, like, a fix.
But I do feel extremely
passionate about being able
to bring their voices
into this manifesto,
because those are the people
that are going to be
affected most by this.
Africa is the continent with
the most Commonwealth countries.
Out of 21, 14 have anti-gay laws.
In four, the maximum punishment
is life imprisonment.
And in the northern states of
Nigeria, it's the death penalty -
where just this year,
three men have been sentenced
to death by stoning.
I really wanted to go to Nigeria
and actually meet some athletes
and meet some people there,
but we were advised that the risks
were really high.
But we do have one athlete
that I'm going to speak to.
We're going to change his voice
so that he's completely
unidentifiable
because, you know,
at the end of the day,
the risks are just too high for him.
What do you worry might happen
if you...
if people found out
that you were gay?
Yeah. It's not going to be good
for my image.
As someone who is very popular
in sport in Nigeria,
the minute they find out, the news
go round, you become very unsafe,
like, you don't know
what happens next.
You know, my friend died recently.
He was killed, rather.
Your friend was killed? Yeah.
For being gay.
I'm, like, speechless.
Like, what happened?
He met somebody,
and he invited the person over,
and he stabbed my friend
multiple times,
and he was in a pool of his
own blood in his house. Oh, my gosh.
It's terrifying.
Now they are hunting people.
Hunting people? Yeah.
So they create fake accounts online
and then they set you up.
Sometimes you get beaten so much,
then they post it online.
They report you to family,
they extort money from you,
and people lose it.
Some people commit suicide
in the process.
Honestly, it makes me angry.
It makes me really angry.
You know, my friends quite often
might meet someone online
and meet up with them, and just
doing that could end their life.
Sad doesn't even cover it.
It's like something out of,
like, a horror film.
A real dark horror film.
The videos posted online
of attacks on gay men in Nigeria
are truly horrific.
INDISTINCI not be gay. I not be gay.
I not be gay.
CRACKING
Say hello to homo. Homo bye-bye.
I'm meeting Bisi Alimi,
a Nigerian exile who lectures
on African gay history.
He's been studying the cause
of all this hatred.
Hi. Hi, Tom.
In the Lincoln's Inn library,
they keep an extensive collection
of historic laws
from across the Commonwealth.
This is a 1923 penal code
from Nigeria.
And this Section 217 gave birth
to what we now know in Nigeria
as the buggery law,
or as many people would say,
the gay law.
"Any male person who,
whether in public or private,
"commits any act of gross indecency
with another male person,
"is guilty of a felony
and is liable to imprisonment
"with or without whipping
or flogging."
The moment this law
came into existence
became the moment in history
when homosexuality became
a criminal offence in Nigeria.
And imposed by Britain. Exactly.
Why has Nigeria not
gotten rid of the law yet?
You have to understand
that it wasn't just
a piece of legislation in a book.
It became part of school curriculum.
It became part of
religious principles
that the colonialists used
in educating the natives.
And then, post-colonial,
you have the emergence of
the evangelicals,
who still believe
homosexuality is immoral.
Today, it's a major case
of an arrest of
suspected gay men...
Arrests are common in Nigeria,
and human rights groups
report that the police regularly
subject gays and lesbians
to harassment,
beatings and extortion.
It's not surprising that
it's extremely rare for Nigerians
to voluntarily come out.
How did you come out?
I was going to get outed
by the media,
so I chose to do the outing myself.
So I went on
the most-watched TV show
in Nigeria in 2004,
making me the first gay man
to ever come out on TV.
I have a home with the man I love.
You know, where I am not condemned.
I'm not regarded as a non-entity.
They couldn't stop the live show,
but people were already outside
demanding for our heads.
I had to be escorted to my house,
and my house was broken into
and I was almost killed.
For three hours, I was tied up,
I was beaten mercilessly,
for loving.
Just for loving.
So that was your reason for
moving to the UK?
That was the reason why
I had to move to the UK.
If this law had not been
in existence in my country,
I wouldn't be here.
BAND PLAYS
If we're talking about
the Commonwealth Games,
do you think they could make
a difference?
We have to start somewhere,
and sport brings people together.
Imagine at the beginning
of the Commonwealth Games
there is someone carrying a flag
that says, "We are the Commonwealth.
"Everybody is welcome irrespective
of your sexual orientation."
That's powerful. And if
I'm a young gay man in Nigeria,
and I'm sitting in front of my TV
and I see that,
I will forever remember that.
I mean, that gave me goosebumps,
even just thinking about
an LGBT flag.
It would give hope,
hope to a lot of people
who will either
be at the Commonwealth Games
or who will be watching from home
and saying, "If this is possible,
then my life is possible."
The colonial laws
that still affect Nigeria
were imposed across
the Commonwealth.
And even though some countries
have repealed them,
every year, gay and lesbian athletes
come to Britain to escape
persecution and seek asylum.
Over the last few months,
we've been trying to find
an asylum seeker
that would be willing to talk.
We've actually had four athletes
drop out
just out of pure fear
of what might happen to them,
how it might affect
their refugee status,
how it might affect
their families at home.
But in the last 24 hours,
we have found an athlete
from Barbados who is currently
seeking asylum here in the UK.
You're an athlete in Barbados?
Yes.
What was sport for you growing up?
Sports was everything,
everything to me.
At what moment did that change
for you?
It all changed when people
realised that I was gay.
The coaches didn't want
to train me any more.
The rest of team-mates didn't want
to be around me any more.
So it was very depressing for me.
How did you get exposed?
Well, I was 16 years old,
my first-ever relationship.
We did, like, have photos together,
not like nudes,
but like just pictures
of us together
and kissing and stuff like that.
And the photos got leaked
on social media.
Wow. Yeah.
And did you have any support
from anyone? Any friends
that you could trust, anyone
that you were able to talk to?
All of the people that I thought
was my friends, they abandoned me.
And what about your family?
They all rejected me.
Every single one of them.
I was actually kicked out
of my home.
But the reason that I really
made the journey over to the UK
is because I was suffering
from second-degree burns.
How did you get second-degree burns?
My stepdad found out where
I was living and he beat me
and he threw acid at me. Acid?
So I was hospitalised.
I was also stabbed in my arm.
Who stabbed you in your arm?
It was my workmate,
because he told the manager
that he don't feel comfortable
working around a batty boy any more.
So he literally got a knife
and he stabbed me.
Like, right there. Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
As an athlete yourself,
what do you think a sporting event
like the Commonwealth Games could do
in order to help people
across the Commonwealth?
Well, my point of view,
have the Pride flag there.
Like, that would make
a major difference.
If you were still in Barbados
and you saw that at the Commonwealth
Games Opening Ceremony...
I would be jumping for joy,
actually, because it would then show
that we are getting there.
It's going to happen.
It's not fully there,
but it's happening.
A sign of hope, I guess. Yes.
His story is so horrendous.
What has... What has he actually
done to deserve that treatment?
He hasn't done anything.
Imagine being punished
by your family,
thrown out by your family,
stabbed by colleagues,
acid thrown at you
for just being you.
Being punished for existing,
like, it's so...
It's just so inherently wrong.
Barbados is one of 18 Caribbean
countries and overseas territories
able to compete
in the Commonwealth Games.
They've all had homophobic laws,
but change is happening.
In 1991, the Bahamas abolished
their anti-gay laws.
Since then,
nine others have followed.
But in Jamaica,
being gay remains a crime.
The penalty - ten years'
imprisonment, with hard labour.
I've been sent some videos
from people on the ground
in Jamaica.
Just some examples of what happens
to queer people.
SHOUTING
It's live, it's live, it's live.
They've caught the perpetrator
and they're going to kill him now.
I'm live on the scene for 14.
I'm live on the scene...
They're recording this
as if it's some kind of joke.
Like they're hunting after...
..an animal.
There's another one.
I can't even watch that.
Someone is just being beaten
with a...pole.
You'd think that this was, like,
20 years ago,
but this was just last year.
It's flipped on its head everything
I thought about Jamaica,
quite frankly.
Everything I hear about Jamaica
is people in the UK
going there on holiday.
I mean, I'm sure the resorts
are lovely, but it doesn't
really give you the real sense of
Jamaica and what LGBT people face
if they were born here.
At the last Commonwealth Games,
Jamaica was the top-performing
Caribbean country with 27 medals.
I'm about to meet Michael Gunning,
who is currently the only out LGBathlete that represents Jamaica.
He was born in the UK,
grew up there, but does
have dual citizenship
and this is the first time
he's been back to Jamaica
since coming out.
You asked to meet here,
which is an isolated beach away
from as many people as possible.
What made you think that
that was so important to do?
I think just scared of our safety.
Like, I have this fear of us walking
in the street in Kingston
and us not looking as macho as
everyone else and us just sticking
out like a sore thumb.
So, what was it that actually made
you decide to compete for Jamaica
instead of Great Britain?
Obviously, my dad is Jamaican,
my mum's British and all of my
family kind of said that,
why don't I represent Jamaica?
You know, that I should be
flying the Jamaican flag,
but a year after competing,
that's when I decided to come out
and I think it was just
because if I didn't, it was honestly
going to eat me alive.
But there were so many messages
from people out in Jamaica sending
abuse and death threats
and just some
horrible, horrible messages.
I have got some saved.
So, one of the messages was,
"Shame on you.
"People like you should be killed.
"Why couldn't you have stuck
with Great Britain
"rather than bringing shame
to our country?
"Go back to where you came from.
"I wish you dead."
Oh, my God.
Yeah, it's just... Yeah.
I can imagine it was
like a really dark period. Yeah.
My dad told me not to talk
about it, just to do my job
and to swim, you know?
But I think, you know,
I do have Jamaican roots.
You know, I am dual nationality,
and I just felt so much shame, which
was just really hard to deal with.
Deep down, if you honestly ask me
if I could change back and almost
be straight,
I would love to be straight.
Pains me to say, but honestly,
I can't 100% say that I am happy
to be who I am.
Within the Jamaican team,
there has to be other gay people.
Have you had any gay athletes
reach out to you?
I've had some Jamaican athletes
that have been very open
about their sexuality with me,
but they're really scared
of it getting out and I can only do
so much to support and to tell them
that it's going to be OK.
But will it be OK?
You know, there is still
that massive question mark
on the unknown of, you know,
will they be safe?
Gay athletes actually living
in Jamaica are forced
to hide their sexuality, and many
have been too scared to talk.
In the last 24 hours, an athlete
has agreed to speak to me
and, understandably, they have asked
to be completely anonymous and meet
in a very secluded location
in order to be fully protected.
I know you've asked to meet
anonymously.
Could you tell me a little bit
about why that is?
Because you're basically taking
a chance to even entertain
the thought of talking about
your sexuality or your experiences
while living here in Jamaica
as an athlete.
Because, point blank,
there is no tolerance here.
What was your experience of growing
up and being queer in Jamaica?
Did you experience any forms
of homophobia?
You're more susceptible
to being ridiculed, stoned,
being verbally assaulted.
Stoned? Like, what, just...
just in the streets?
Stoned by kids, stoned by...
Just as you're walking
down the street, people are...
They will hurl insults at you.
What kind of things do they say?
Like...? They'll say butch,
dyke, sodomite.
Like a biblical reference
from Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah.
And then sometimes it might lead
into physical assault.
And, as an athlete, do you worry
about coming out in terms
of sponsorship,
being kicked off the team?
It plays on my mind all
the time, actually.
Imagine coming out and saying,
"OK, I'm a gay athlete."
I think a lot of companies here,
the first thing they will say is,
"This wouldn't be a good
example for our children.
"I don't want to be associated
with that."
What do you think can be done
in order to make queer people feel
safer within the realm of sport?
Even as small as it may be,
show the Pride flag.
It will make a big difference.
Once you can fly the flag
in a sporting event and no-one
is being abusive towards it,
that says safety.
That's what I believe, personally.
I believe the Commonwealth Games
can do more to help,
but one of the problems
with changing things here
is that you have to deal
with a lot of toxic history.
Hundreds of years ago, people were
captured from Africa and shipped
to Jamaica to work on the island's
British-owned slave plantations.
I'm meeting Carla Moore,
a university lecturer specialising
in race and sexuality.
Hi, Carla. Hi, Tom.
How are you? I'm pretty good.
How are you?
I'm doing well, thank you.
She's been researching the link
between homophobia today
and the slave trade.
On the plantation,
gay sex wasn't allowed
and it wasn't allowed specifically
because it doesn't make a baby.
So it was beneficial to the
plantation owner for people
to be having heterosexual sex
because they could get
a "free slave" out of the union.
So we have whippings, lynchings
on the plantation for people
who are engaging in same-sex sex.
And then you have something
that's called buck breaking.
Buck breaking? Buck breaking, yes.
Buck breaking is anal rape
of enslaved men
as a form of punishment.
The slave owner would carry him out
in front of his family, in front
of the friends, and he would rape
him as a way to break his spirit.
Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
And so what we have is this very
complicated history of sexual trauma
that went on for, like, 300 years.
And if the representation you have
of queerness is plantation
owners sexually assaulting men,
you get the idea that it's a white
people thing, it's a thing that
white people do to black people
to harm them. The end result of
that is a homophobia we see today
and, actually, that the level
of the country, it's also about,
I have to make it clear that you're
not in charge here any more.
You're not the master
of this country any more.
We get to determine how
we're going to proceed.
And, unfortunately, that plays out
on the bodies of LGBT people.
Everything you've just told me,
it's... It makes everything make
complete sense, you know?
It honestly makes me feel
sick to be British
when you just hear these things.
I get that.
That's level one.
Level two is, "Now what?"
You know I'm saying? Like, stop
coming down here to make us feel
like we're the worst people in the
world. We've had enough of that.
Is there another approach
that we can take?
Because even though there is still
homophobia, LGBT Jamaicans,
advocates for LGBT Jamaicans
have been working for years,
but some people still have us
stuck at the most homophobic
place on Earth,
and it's very disrespectful to the
work that the advocates are doing.
It is easy to fall into the trap
of thinking that they've got
a problem with homophobia
and we're all queer-inclusive,
but that's just not the case, and
it's not helpful for the people
around the Commonwealth to be
constantly pointing a finger at
that "they haven't removed the
laws". It's not as simple as that.
I've just learned so much today
that it's really like...quite...
I don't know. It's overwhelming.
I'm taking Carla's advice
and going to meet a prominent
campaigner to see what he thinks
the Commonwealth Games
can do to help.
I'm about to go and meet Glenroy
Murray, who is the executive
director of J-Flag, which is a LGBrights organisation here in Jamaica.
Unfortunately, in Jamaica, LGBpeople face a myriad of challenges.
He's doing some kind of promotional
video for J-Flag in the middle
of the town in Kingston.
From everything I've heard,
that just shouldn't
happen in Jamaica.
And we're done.
What are you doing here?
So what we're doing is we're
shooting a campaign video
and we've shot at this mural
before, because it's one
of our installations.
The Pride-like colours
are deliberate in this.
Yes, it's just our way
of showing people
that we're just
like the rest of them.
Do you not feel, like, worried
about filming, you know,
an LGBT-rights campaign
in the middle of Kingston?
We're aware that violence
and discrimination is a thing
that LGBT people continue to face,
but this kind of activism is needed,
so we're always going to try
to push the envelope.
How can events like the Commonwealth
Games help to create some kind
of change here in Jamaica?
Big sporting events capture
the attention of the public,
and it sounds simple,
but the world is watching.
If we see LGBT rights being
acknowledged within those spaces,
we'll get people to a space where
they feel like, "You know what?
"Why do we continue to treat queer
people in this way, especially
"when they are the ones that are
making us proud about our country?"
Sport in Jamaica might have a long
way to go, but people like Glenroy
are starting to change things.
There have actually been Pride
marches here since 2015,
and gay Jamaicans are
becoming more visible.
Glenroy has invited me
to meet some of his friends,
but I have no idea what to expect.
He said it's a queer-friendly space
and I am excited by the prospect
of being able to hang out with
queer Jamaicans in a public place.
Hello. Hi. Good to see you.
Hi! Good to see you, too.
How you doing? Nice to meet you.
Oh, you can just join us.
Yeah, I'd love that. Absolutely.
Scoot over, scoot over.
The thought of this - being, like,
with queer people in public,
you know, having drinks,
like, to me, like,
I just didn't know that
that existed in Jamaica.
I remember Carnival,
I was on halfway through
and they started stoning the gays.
But now we are able to integrate
into spaces with, like, the regular
community. Just as Jamaica now
is probably very unrecognisable
to somebody who lived here
in the early 2000s,
it would be very unrecognisable
to me by 2030.
So I'm very excited
for what the future holds.
Coming here today and spending time
with a group of queer Jamaicans,
seeing how happy they are,
and happy they are to be visible,
it does fill me with hope.
I don't know, I feel more
motivated than ever
to really try and fight for change.
It's two months until the athletes
arrive in Birmingham
and now I'm taking the thoughts
of the people that I've met
and putting them
into a manifesto to send to
the Commonwealth Games Federation.
The bulk of the things that
I'm asking for are easily put
into action quickly.
Things like putting a pro-LGBstance at the forefront
of the Commonwealth Games ethos.
Educational programmes
around the British Empire.
Sensitivity training
for all of the Commonwealth Games
staff and volunteers.
Refugee resources that allow you to
be able to start seeking asylum
in the country that is hosting.
Now, this is the big ask -
to have the Pride flag play
an official part at the Opening
Ceremony, something that a sporting
event of this size
has never done before.
I think it would just send
a bold message to everyone
across the Commonwealth
that the Commonwealth Games accepts
and embraces queer people.
And I think that would be a hugely
powerful statement to send
to everyone watching
around the Commonwealth.
"I hope we can move forward and use
sport as a power for change."
If they want to make it happen,
they will, but...
Yeah, I just...
Yeah, I'm kind of nervous.
I've been negotiating, doing phone
calls, back-and-forth emails
for months now, trying to figure out
what exactly can happen
at the Commonwealth Games
Opening Ceremony.
LINE RINGING
Commonwealth Games Federation.
Hello, it's Tom Daley here.
LINE RINGING
Just wanted to give you a quick
call to talk about plans
for the Opening Ceremony.
There are a lot of doors
that were slammed in our faces,
there was a lot of things
that were suggested
and then shut down and suggested
and shut down,
but after months, we've finally
come up with something.
They finally agreed to allow
the Pride flag to be included.
And not just one -
there's going to be six.
In a really official part, too -
the Queen's Baton Relay -
and it's going to be carried
by people from all over
the Commonwealth.
Hi, Tom. Athletes and advocates
that I've met along the way.
Hey, Tom.
Hi, Glenroy, how are you?
We've got people representing
asylum seekers and refugees.
Honestly, I've already cried a lot
about this, because you just don't
imagine in your wildest dreams
that something
like this could happen.
I am so excited and just so grateful
that you are getting
involved in this.
If I had seen this moment as a young
lesbian growing up in Zimbabwe,
it would have meant
everything for me.
It would have meant I am not alone.
People who have fought to change
the law in their country.
People that have had to flee
their country.
This is quite an historic moment,
the first time that the Pride flag
is being flown proudly
at a major sporting event,
so that's huge.
This is really going to be
ground-breaking now.
For generations, people will be
talking about it.
It's the first major sporting
event to do this.
Like, they are going to change
history in the way that sport
and the LGBT community
come together.
I'm kind of nervous, super excited
and almost just... I just still
just can't quite believe
that over a billion people
are going to see the Pride flags
walk out at the Opening Ceremony.
Hello, everyone. Nice to see you.
Hello. Good to see you.
Hello, hello, hello. Oh!
This moment means so much
to the six advocates.
I can't believe it's all
finally happening.
It's the fact that it's happening
at the Commonwealth Games.
Yes. We are occupying spaces
where it matters and we don't
have to apologise for it,
we don't have to beg for it,
because we belong here.
Three, two, one!
CHEERING
And now it is my honour to say
welcome to Birmingham.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
ANDREW COTTER: The Prince of Wales
and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Hello, Birmingham. You all right?
We are ready. Let's go.
This is what we've been working
towards. This huge moment
of visibility for LGBT people across
the Commonwealth to feel seen
and to feel acknowledged.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
CHEERING
For the last 300 days,
over 7,000 baton bearers
have carried the Queen's baton
across the Commonwealth in the name
of their chosen cause.
And now, completing
this epic journey,
please welcome our
final baton bearers.
Starting with five-times
Commonwealth medal-winner
for diving, Tom Daley!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Tom is running in support
of LGBT+ rights, and tonight
has been joined by flag-bearers
representing some of the
35 Commonwealth countries
where homosexuality
is still a crime.
He runs in solidarity with all LGBT+
athletes and communities.
CHEERING
This was an incredibly emotional
moment, but this wasn't about me.
This is about every single LGBperson around the Commonwealth,
around the world, that they might
have seen that tonight
and been given a little bit of hope.
Even if it can make the smallest
difference to someone out there,
it was all worth it because someone
today might have seen that and felt
a little less alone in the world.
Big things come from small
beginnings,
and today the Commonwealth
Games made history.
But the Olympics, the football
World Cup and Formula 1
still have a long way to go.
I just see this as the start.
I want other sporting events
to take note
because we're not going anywhere.
CHEERING
some viewers may find upsetting,
very strong language and
discriminatory language and content
from the start.
I'm Tom Daley.
I'm an athlete, and I'm gay.
It hasn't always been easy
for me to say that.
TOM: Thank you very much.
VO: In London 2012,
out of nearly 11,000 athletes,
only 23 were openly LGBT.
There were more athletes
called James at those Olympics
than people that were out.
There clearly were more athletes
that were closeted.
I mean, I was one of them.
CHEERING
London 2012 was the pinnacle
of what I'd been dreaming of
my whole diving career,
but back then was probably when
I was most scared of being outed.
It was terrifying, and this was
my way of being able to feel free,
even though I was far from
feeling free in real life.
JOURNALISTS SHOUSince then, my life's changed,
and I'm a husband...
TOM: Hello, Robbie!
..and a father to Robbie.
TOM ON VIDEO: I met someone,
and, well, that someone...
VO: Getting here wasn't easy.
..is a guy.
What I remember about it was you
literally shaking, like this.
"Tom Daley is gay. I am now
ashamed of my country. Eww.
"We can't have a bloody fag
representing us."
But many gay athletes
have it so much worse.
My stepdad found out
where I was living
and he beat me
and he threw acid at me.
In over half the countries competing
in this year's Commonwealth Games,
being gay is illegal, and can lead
to horrific attacks.
Sad doesn't even cover it.
It's like something out of,
like, a horror film.
Real dark horror film.
I want to find out where
all this hatred came from.
It honestly makes me feel sick
to be British.
I get that. That's level one.
Level two is, "Now what?"
And now I'm launching a campaign
to get the sporting world
to try and change things.
I want sporting events to take note,
because we're not going anywhere.
This is my trophy cabinet.
At the top
we've got World Championships,
then we've got Olympic.
And then down here we've got
European and Commonwealth.
On the Sydney Cricket Ground,
it's the opening day
of the Empire Games,
the Olympics of the British
Commonwealth of Nations.
STARTER PISTOL FIRES
The Games are on!
The Commonwealth Games started life
as the British Empire Games,
aiming to unite the countries
that were under British rule
through sport.
Here's some real high diving.
By the time I competed,
the Empire was over
and the Games had been rebranded.
The Commonwealth Games
now takes place every four years
and has a global audience
of 1.5 billion.
This is the dive that Tom Daley fans
have been waiting for.
So I got two golds in Delhi 2010.
I mean, it's 12 years ago now.
It makes me feel a bit old.
Then from Glasgow,
gold in the men's 10m individual
and silver in the synchro.
And then the last one...
So here's the case for it.
And there was a Commonwealth
gold medal in there.
But now...
..I've lost a Gold Coast medal.
Robbie goes in here all the time
and just gets medals
and puts them on and runs around
and calls them his necklaces.
CLANKING
Any of these gold?
Oh, yes.
That is my most recent
Commonwealth Games gold medal,
which is from Gold Coast 2018.
This year, the Games
is in Birmingham,
with over 4,000 athletes
competing in more than 280 events.
But there's an issue
that no-one's talking about.
The Commonwealth is home to
a third of the world's population
and is made up of 56 member states.
In over half of them,
it's illegal to be gay.
In many, you can get life
imprisonment - and in three,
you could even be
sentenced to death.
You start to question, should I feel
a little bit like, "Ooh,"
about these medals,
or should I be proud of them?
Because what kind of message
is that sending?
I would be illegal to exist
in 35 of the 56 sovereign states
of the Commonwealth.
I mean, that's just outrageous.
These days, most international
sporting bodies
claim that they're inclusive
of LGBT people.
But just this year,
the Football World Cup and Formula 1
are both being hosted in countries
which have the death penalty
for being gay.
As a former medal-winner,
the Commonwealth Games
is close to my heart,
and I want to convince it
to become the first sporting event
to really take a stand.
I've been told that sport
and politics shouldn't collide,
but at the same time,
you have to acknowledge
what's going on around you.
My wish right now is to try and get
the Commonwealth Games to say
that they will not allow any country
that has anti-LGBT laws
to be able to host
the Commonwealth Games.
And I know that is a bold wish,
but it has to start somewhere,
to try and create some change.
It's easy to think
I have the answer, but I don't know
what it's really like to be a gay
athlete around the Commonwealth.
I've decided to go to Pakistan -
one of the world's most dangerous
places to be gay.
I'm slightly nervous because
I'm going to a country where,
you know, being gay
can get you the death penalty.
It's a pretty intense thought.
I still have so much to learn.
I just want to be able to meet some
queer athletes, hear their stories,
and also ask them what they think
is the right thing.
What is it that you think
that these organising committees
should be doing?
Going to go to
Heathrow Terminal 3, please.
VO: I am very aware that
I come from a place of privilege
and I don't know what
the right solution is,
but that's what
I'm hoping to find out.
Pakistan has different shades
of opinion
when it comes to homosexuality.
But the country's laws emerged
from the British Empire
and have changed to reflect its
conservative and religious culture.
Today, the maximum punishment
for being gay is death by stoning.
It's never been officially carried
out, but it's created an environment
where vigilante groups
take the law into their own hands,
and gay people live under the threat
of humiliation,
blackmail and violence.
I am concerned that people
will find out, like, why we're here,
what we're filming,
what we're doing and, you know,
we're going to extreme lengths
to make sure that we are
keeping ourselves safe,
but most importantly, the people
that we're talking to safe.
We have a security guard
following us,
although we have to keep them
out of earshot
about what we're actually
talking about.
Although they still face
persecution,
transgender people have had legal
rights in Pakistan since 2018.
But the laws against homosexuality
mean that finding someone prepared
to talk has been really difficult.
Good morning. How are you?
I'm good. I'm good. Good.
Thank you for having me. Sure.
I'm meeting a cricketer
who spent years
playing for Pakistan's
national women's team.
We were going to meet at
the local cricket ground,
but her fear of being overheard
means we're now meeting
at a safe house,
and she doesn't want her name
to be used.
There you go.
Thank you so much.
Given the risks, why did you
choose to speak to me?
I thought that
this is the right time.
Somebody needs to speak out.
I built up that courage
and I said, "OK, let's do it."
Maybe it can make an impact.
Maybe things will be changed a bit.
People here,
even the psychologists here,
they think being queer
is a disease.
Wow. Yes.
So either will take you
to the witch doctor
and try to get it fixed,
or the best solution, if you're
a queer man or a queer woman,
to get you married,
make you sleep with that person,
have a baby, and after the baby,
everything will be fine.
That is the concept
we have in Pakistan. Wow.
Yeah.
What was your experience
in the sporting world?
How would other players treat you?
They needed me
because I was a good player.
But while we are travelling,
I used to sit alone.
While we used to have rooms,
they don't want to share with me
because they don't feel safe.
They find me as a mutant.
They were... As a mutant? Yeah.
Like a disease spreads.
Like a disease, yeah.
Must've been really hard.
Did you have to completely
suppress who you were and just...?
Of course. Very fortunately,
I never fell for drugs.
But I see people around me
who are gays or lesbians
that they have drowned themselves
into antidepressants or drugs
or alcohol or any other substance
abuse which keeps them numb.
I've seen them hurting themselves.
I've seen them
trying to kill themselves.
So what could the Commonwealth Games
Federation do in order to help?
Because I always thought banning
countries that have anti-LGBT laws
from hosting the event
might do something.
It won't make a difference,
because we are a country in denial.
They'll be like, "OK, ban us."
No matter how hard,
what pressure you put in.
This is against the religion.
They won't do it.
Talking to her about the idea
that I had
with the Commonwealth Games, I mean,
it feels like it's just going
to be so insignificant.
She doesn't think that
there's any hope of Pakistan
changing its laws
or changing its ideas.
Like, "Fine, don't bring a sporting
event here, we don't care.
"Not having gay and lesbian people
in our country
"is more important
than hosting a sporting event."
Some of Pakistan's most prominent
athletes have been forced
to hide their sexuality.
But I've managed to find someone
who is prepared to talk to me.
I'm about to go meet
a very high-profile
and very recognisable
Pakistani athlete,
and she's asked us
to conceal her identity
and also meet her at a safe house.
I think that just really
hammers home the harsh realities
of being a queer athlete
in Pakistan.
How does it make you feel
to represent Pakistan
when, if they knew the real you,
they might not accept you?
I try not to think about it, and put
all my energy into competing.
What would happen if you did
come out publicly here in Pakistan?
It would be big news.
Everyone would criticise me,
embarrass me, shame me,
maybe get violent.
Do you think you'll ever be able
to fall in love
and have a relationship here?
I was in a relationship, but she got
married and she went away.
She got married to a man?
Yes.
So she was forced into marriage?
Yes.
I went to the wedding venue,
but her brothers found out
and beat me bad.
It affected me for years.
I was in trauma and depression.
I stopped eating
and I wanted to end my life.
But I couldn't, because my parents
were dependent on me.
I'm sorry. It's just...
It just seems so unfair.
And no... No-one should be...
No-one should be put through that.
This is how Pakistan is.
Do you think there's any hope
for any queer kids growing up here?
Many times, I imagine a life
where I could breathe freely.
But it's not possible
here in Pakistan.
So...no hope?
I don't think so.
Honestly, I've never felt
more helpless in my life.
Like, just hearing her story,
her struggles, her fight...
Honestly, I just want to go home
to my husband and my son and just...
..hug them and, like, just that
level of appreciation and gratitude
of just being able to be safe
every day.
Finding a gay male athlete willing
to talk to me has been difficult.
But since coming to Pakistan,
I've been in touch with someone
who's hoping to compete
in this year's Commonwealth Games.
He's too scared to appear on camera,
even if we conceal his identity.
But he sent me a letter.
It starts with, "I cannot come
in front of the camera
"because of my family
and surroundings.
"They have no clue about
my orientation.
"But at the same time,
I face a lot of jokes calling me
"such as cake, gay,
and mostly called as arsehole.
"And name-calling
kills me from inside
"but I keep quiet
as this is my reality.
"My family wants me to get married
and start a family.
"Sometimes I feel like I should die
"and set my life free
from this trauma."
He sounds to me like
he's lost all hope.
He goes on to say, "Sir, I live
in Pakistan, the Islamic Republic.
"One of my friends
knows about my identity.
"He blackmailed me that he will tell
the Federation about my orientation,
"that I am gay.
I fear that I'll be killed."
"It won't make any difference
to Pakistan
"if banned from hosting
or competing in the Games."
The more I'm learning about athletes
here in Pakistan
is there's even more layers of
homophobia,
because it's not just family,
it's not just friends.
It's also team-mates
and federations.
It just feels like they're just
fighting an impossible fight.
Like everybody feels like no matter
what is done within sport,
that it will not make a difference
to Pakistan,
that nothing will make a difference,
and that there is no...
..no hope.
The laws in Pakistan are a result
of the country's complex political
and religious history.
And I'm struggling to see
what a sporting event
like the Commonwealth Games could do
to make a difference to the lives
of lesbian and gay athletes here.
I've been told to talk to
a controversial pop star
called Zulfi.
Zulfi is one of very few Pakistanis
who's tried to live
an openly gay life.
HORN BEEPS
But recently he's been forced
into hiding.
Hi, Zulfi. Hi, Thomas. How are you?
Thank you so much for talking to me
today. Of course, it's an honour.
Can you tell me a little bit
about what happened?
So I was part of an art-pop punk
band, and we did a photoshoot.
And that photoshoot was,
like, gay as shit.
We were in these purple,
pink sequins.
I had nipple pasties. Wow.
A big nod to Lady Gaga.
But that photoshoot just became
this super politicised moment
where, like, Pakistan and Islam
is being threatened
by these two baddies
in purple sequins.
And it was scary.
Like, there were death threats.
There were rape threats.
But people stopped me
on the street, saluted me,
shook my hand and told me,
"Thank you for doing what you did.
"We live in a better Pakistan
"because of people like you.
Keep it up."
So what I've been thinking
is to try and ban any countries
that have anti-LGBT laws from
hosting the Commonwealth Games.
Unfortunately, I think that
sort of a punitive measure
might only make things worse.
Like, "Oh, it's because
of you gay people
"that we can't host
the Games any more."
You cannot generate
something positive
from a negative sort of strategy.
And I hope that
there are protections
for queer people of any sorts
that empower them
instead of putting them
at risk again.
From what I'm just hearing from you,
it sounds like there is hope,
when I've been told that
there is no hope for queer people
in this country.
No, in Pakistan, queer people
have the hope of in fact
heralding a new Pakistan
that is free, that is respectful,
not out of fear, but out of love.
For me, this trip
has been so illuminating.
A lot of the things that I've heard
have been so awful.
But I've gone from feeling like
there's no hope
to speaking to Zulfi, and it has
given me a glimmer of hope.
So it's just made me rethink
a lot of my ideas of what I thought
was the right thing to do
around the Commonwealth Games
and actually leading with
a sense of love
rather than taking things away
from people.
It's easy to point the finger
around the Commonwealth,
but homosexuality only became fully
legal across the whole of the UK
in the 1980s.
And for me, growing up gay
certainly wasn't straightforward.
I'm Tom Daley. I'm 12 years old
and I'm from Plymouth,
and I want to win
an Olympic gold medal in...
..diving.
I used to hate everything
about myself -
the way I talked,
the way I walked -
and I tried to overachieve
in everything,
whether that's school,
whether that was diving.
NEWS: Diver Tom Daley will be the
youngest British male competitor
in our Olympic history.
I was always trying to overachieve
to distract from the fact
that I knew that I was gay
and I knew that I was going
to be seen as, like,
something that was bad
and something that was wrong.
And growing up,
I fought my own sexuality.
And I hated myself for that.
Hello! Hello!
Sophie's been my best friend
since I was a teenager,
back when I was trying to cope
with the pressures
of competing in the Olympics...
CHEERING
..and being at school.
I found some really funny photos
of when we were younger.
Oh, my God.
I feel like you haven't really
changed. No, I have!
You've just grown.
This, I think, was when I got back
from the Olympics in 2008.
All of a sudden, it was like
TV cameras and photographers
and it's like...look at that.
I mean, I'm smiling,
walking around like,
"Yep, can't wait to be at school."
And, you know, when the camera's
around, people were always like...
"Hiya!", and then as soon as they
went away, it was like... Yeah.
It almost felt some days that people
were, like, hunting me down
to try and, like, be horrible.
Yeah, so true.
It was just, "You're gay,"
or "You're queer,"
and there's so only so much
a 14-year-old can take.
It pushes you to breaking point.
And I broke and I was like,
"I... I can't keep doing this."
Everyone else probably thought
you were living
this incredible life.
But I think actually
what was happening at school
was something that was having
a massive effect
on your mental health.
Yeah, I look back on it now
and I feel sorry for young Tom
because at the time I was just like,
"Maybe I'm going just to be
unhappy all my life."
NEWS: This is Tom Daley,
the schoolboy
still too young to take his GCSEs,
even if he is old enough
to compete for his country.
Hello.
Hello, my lovely.
Oh...
Right.
When I won bronze
at the London Olympics,
I was still struggling with
who I was.
I was so scared of what would happen
to my career
if I admitted I was gay
that in my autobiography,
I didn't even mention it.
By the time I was ready
to come out to my family,
my dad had passed away.
My mum accepted me,
but not everyone else did.
This is literally exactly
where I stood
eight and a half years ago
when I told Grandma and Grandad.
So this is my mum and dad
you're talking about. Yeah.
Yeah. Your mum and dad
were stood here.
I was like...
What I remember about it
was you literally shaking
like this. Yeah.
Your whole body was shaking
cos you were that worried. Yeah.
I mean, I was terrified
because I'd just told
the other set of grandparents
and it didn't go so well.
It felt like I'd disappointed them
to the highest extreme level
that I could have. Mm.
It switched like that,
from being all love and hugs to...
Yeah. Like, "You disgust me."
Yeah.
I mean, they asked me
if it was natural and, you know,
"What would your dad say?"
It was absolutely awful.
And it's taken them a lot of time
to come to terms with me being gay.
But I'd like to think, as well,
that Dad would be proud
of who I am today
and, you know, married with a kid.
I mean, Robbie is named after Dad.
Yeah.
He would probably have made a joke
and taken the mick out of you,
but he would do that
whether you married Lance
or whether it was, like, Joanna
from down the street, say.
Yeah. It would have been the same
reaction. That was Dad, though.
But the whole worry was like,
"Oh, my gosh, what if...
"..everyone else in the world reacts
like some of my family did?" Mm.
NEWS: The Olympic diver Tom Daley
has posted a video online
revealing that he's in
a relationship with another man.
In an ideal world,
I wouldn't be doing this video,
because it shouldn't matter.
But I met someone,
and that someone...
..is a guy.
It was like
a really scary moment for me
because I'd been told
that I'd lose sponsors,
lose, like, my female fanbase,
and it was all going to go
to rubbish.
I'd lost my dad, and then I felt
like I had to support my family.
And what happens
if that all got taken away?
The thought about what abuse
I might get in the streets -
would I get beaten up?
Would I get things thrown at me?
I had no idea
what was going to happen.
This afternoon it was back
to training at the Plymouth pool
where he spends hours every week.
So I'm just looking at
some of the tweets
that I received when I came out.
"Tom Daley's came out that he's
a battyman, lol, fucking queer."
"Tom Daley is gay.
I am now ashamed of my country. Eww.
"We can't have a bloody fag
representing us."
Oh, my gosh.
It does hurt. It is horrible to
receive those comments,
like, you are saying
these horrible things about me.
And it's upsetting to think
that there are people out there
that have that strong of an opinion
that they felt like they had to
publicly say something
that was really attacking
a 19-year-old kid
about their sexuality.
It's...
Yeah, it's...
It makes me feel sad for humanity,
to be honest.
Like many gay athletes, it took me
years to finally feel accepted,
and I think the sporting world
should be doing more to help.
The international federation
that runs the Commonwealth Games
has just appointed a new CEO,
who claims she wants to do more.
The new Commonwealth Games
Federation chief executive
Katie Sadler, she's expressed
her determination
"that the 2022 Commonwealth Games
"will be the most inclusive
in history".
"Extending as far to allow athletes
to make podium protests
"and support their community.
Pride House in Birmingham,
"which aims to be a safe space
"for gay spectators,
athletes and officials,
"has already been announced.
"Sadler also wants
to meet Daley" - me.
Katie's just launched something
called the Commonwealth
Sport Pride Network,
which aims to support and connect
gay athletes during the Games.
On the website there's loads
of, you know, rainbow flags
and it's made to look
very inclusive.
But I do worry that it's slightly
rainbow-washing things,
and it all seems a little bit
airy-fairy to me.
Like, I want to be able to see
something where, you know,
they can say, "We did this,
and because we've done this,
"it's going to make this change."
Because right now it's just,
"We're going to create a Pride House
"and make the Commonwealth Games
inclusive."
Hello. Hi, Tom. Hi, Katie.
How are you? I'm very good.
Good to see you here.
Thank you so much for
taking the time to meet with me.
Oh, my pleasure.
Having looked on the website
and seeing the branding
and rainbows on stuff, do you think
that is enough to reach countries
that have anti-LGBT laws?
I think in the end,
you have to start somewhere.
What I can't do is change
the laws in those countries -
you know, I work for
a sport federation.
But, you know, from our perspective,
the Commonwealth Pride Network
is a start of starting to, you know,
even be more active
in terms of getting people
to understand how much we embrace it
and that it is acceptable.
But then what happens if, say,
Islamabad in Pakistan
wanted to host
the Commonwealth Games?
All members can bid
for hosting Commonwealth Games.
But when I look at what our
contract says for the host,
it's what you need to do in terms
of valuing the same values as we do
in terms of humanity,
equity and destiny.
That would be a kind of a baseline
in terms of making a decision.
Letting those countries know that,
"You don't align with our values."
I wonder if there is something that
can be done to explicitly state that
that is the inclusion
of LGBT people.
Is that something
that the federation would...?
So those are things, you know,
just listening to,
that I will take on board and go
back and have a look to make sure,
how overt are those kind of
statements in those documents?
But I know as a board that there is
a real commitment to the values
that we have stated.
And so, from that perspective,
it's really important to us.
I do worry that
the Commonwealth Games
might not implement any changes.
I mean, don't get me wrong,
they're doing way more now
than they ever were 20 years ago,
and things are constantly
moving forward,
but they have the opportunity
to be the blueprint
for other sporting events
that can create a huge difference
across the world.
It's four months
until the Commonwealth Games,
and I've decided to put together
a manifesto of changes
that should be made.
You know, I want to speak
to as many people as possible.
Get thoughts, ideas, opinions
to help me shape this manifesto.
What might make you feel safe
going to the Commonwealth Games?
If I see a rainbow pin
on a fellow athlete's jacket,
I think would make me feel like
I am not alone.
And it will definitely be a shock
to some of the homophobic athletes,
you know, and officials.
I've competed in the UAE.
I've competed in countries
that are extremely anti-gay.
Right. And it's bizarre.
Yeah. I want to believe, like,
it doesn't affect my performance,
but I've never competed well
in a homophobic country.
Like, I want to go to a country
where I can compete and be myself.
That's fair.
My idea is shifting.
It's about the culture within sport,
the fans, the organising committees.
It's so much more complex
than what I initially thought
was going to be, like, a fix.
But I do feel extremely
passionate about being able
to bring their voices
into this manifesto,
because those are the people
that are going to be
affected most by this.
Africa is the continent with
the most Commonwealth countries.
Out of 21, 14 have anti-gay laws.
In four, the maximum punishment
is life imprisonment.
And in the northern states of
Nigeria, it's the death penalty -
where just this year,
three men have been sentenced
to death by stoning.
I really wanted to go to Nigeria
and actually meet some athletes
and meet some people there,
but we were advised that the risks
were really high.
But we do have one athlete
that I'm going to speak to.
We're going to change his voice
so that he's completely
unidentifiable
because, you know,
at the end of the day,
the risks are just too high for him.
What do you worry might happen
if you...
if people found out
that you were gay?
Yeah. It's not going to be good
for my image.
As someone who is very popular
in sport in Nigeria,
the minute they find out, the news
go round, you become very unsafe,
like, you don't know
what happens next.
You know, my friend died recently.
He was killed, rather.
Your friend was killed? Yeah.
For being gay.
I'm, like, speechless.
Like, what happened?
He met somebody,
and he invited the person over,
and he stabbed my friend
multiple times,
and he was in a pool of his
own blood in his house. Oh, my gosh.
It's terrifying.
Now they are hunting people.
Hunting people? Yeah.
So they create fake accounts online
and then they set you up.
Sometimes you get beaten so much,
then they post it online.
They report you to family,
they extort money from you,
and people lose it.
Some people commit suicide
in the process.
Honestly, it makes me angry.
It makes me really angry.
You know, my friends quite often
might meet someone online
and meet up with them, and just
doing that could end their life.
Sad doesn't even cover it.
It's like something out of,
like, a horror film.
A real dark horror film.
The videos posted online
of attacks on gay men in Nigeria
are truly horrific.
INDISTINCI not be gay. I not be gay.
I not be gay.
CRACKING
Say hello to homo. Homo bye-bye.
I'm meeting Bisi Alimi,
a Nigerian exile who lectures
on African gay history.
He's been studying the cause
of all this hatred.
Hi. Hi, Tom.
In the Lincoln's Inn library,
they keep an extensive collection
of historic laws
from across the Commonwealth.
This is a 1923 penal code
from Nigeria.
And this Section 217 gave birth
to what we now know in Nigeria
as the buggery law,
or as many people would say,
the gay law.
"Any male person who,
whether in public or private,
"commits any act of gross indecency
with another male person,
"is guilty of a felony
and is liable to imprisonment
"with or without whipping
or flogging."
The moment this law
came into existence
became the moment in history
when homosexuality became
a criminal offence in Nigeria.
And imposed by Britain. Exactly.
Why has Nigeria not
gotten rid of the law yet?
You have to understand
that it wasn't just
a piece of legislation in a book.
It became part of school curriculum.
It became part of
religious principles
that the colonialists used
in educating the natives.
And then, post-colonial,
you have the emergence of
the evangelicals,
who still believe
homosexuality is immoral.
Today, it's a major case
of an arrest of
suspected gay men...
Arrests are common in Nigeria,
and human rights groups
report that the police regularly
subject gays and lesbians
to harassment,
beatings and extortion.
It's not surprising that
it's extremely rare for Nigerians
to voluntarily come out.
How did you come out?
I was going to get outed
by the media,
so I chose to do the outing myself.
So I went on
the most-watched TV show
in Nigeria in 2004,
making me the first gay man
to ever come out on TV.
I have a home with the man I love.
You know, where I am not condemned.
I'm not regarded as a non-entity.
They couldn't stop the live show,
but people were already outside
demanding for our heads.
I had to be escorted to my house,
and my house was broken into
and I was almost killed.
For three hours, I was tied up,
I was beaten mercilessly,
for loving.
Just for loving.
So that was your reason for
moving to the UK?
That was the reason why
I had to move to the UK.
If this law had not been
in existence in my country,
I wouldn't be here.
BAND PLAYS
If we're talking about
the Commonwealth Games,
do you think they could make
a difference?
We have to start somewhere,
and sport brings people together.
Imagine at the beginning
of the Commonwealth Games
there is someone carrying a flag
that says, "We are the Commonwealth.
"Everybody is welcome irrespective
of your sexual orientation."
That's powerful. And if
I'm a young gay man in Nigeria,
and I'm sitting in front of my TV
and I see that,
I will forever remember that.
I mean, that gave me goosebumps,
even just thinking about
an LGBT flag.
It would give hope,
hope to a lot of people
who will either
be at the Commonwealth Games
or who will be watching from home
and saying, "If this is possible,
then my life is possible."
The colonial laws
that still affect Nigeria
were imposed across
the Commonwealth.
And even though some countries
have repealed them,
every year, gay and lesbian athletes
come to Britain to escape
persecution and seek asylum.
Over the last few months,
we've been trying to find
an asylum seeker
that would be willing to talk.
We've actually had four athletes
drop out
just out of pure fear
of what might happen to them,
how it might affect
their refugee status,
how it might affect
their families at home.
But in the last 24 hours,
we have found an athlete
from Barbados who is currently
seeking asylum here in the UK.
You're an athlete in Barbados?
Yes.
What was sport for you growing up?
Sports was everything,
everything to me.
At what moment did that change
for you?
It all changed when people
realised that I was gay.
The coaches didn't want
to train me any more.
The rest of team-mates didn't want
to be around me any more.
So it was very depressing for me.
How did you get exposed?
Well, I was 16 years old,
my first-ever relationship.
We did, like, have photos together,
not like nudes,
but like just pictures
of us together
and kissing and stuff like that.
And the photos got leaked
on social media.
Wow. Yeah.
And did you have any support
from anyone? Any friends
that you could trust, anyone
that you were able to talk to?
All of the people that I thought
was my friends, they abandoned me.
And what about your family?
They all rejected me.
Every single one of them.
I was actually kicked out
of my home.
But the reason that I really
made the journey over to the UK
is because I was suffering
from second-degree burns.
How did you get second-degree burns?
My stepdad found out where
I was living and he beat me
and he threw acid at me. Acid?
So I was hospitalised.
I was also stabbed in my arm.
Who stabbed you in your arm?
It was my workmate,
because he told the manager
that he don't feel comfortable
working around a batty boy any more.
So he literally got a knife
and he stabbed me.
Like, right there. Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
As an athlete yourself,
what do you think a sporting event
like the Commonwealth Games could do
in order to help people
across the Commonwealth?
Well, my point of view,
have the Pride flag there.
Like, that would make
a major difference.
If you were still in Barbados
and you saw that at the Commonwealth
Games Opening Ceremony...
I would be jumping for joy,
actually, because it would then show
that we are getting there.
It's going to happen.
It's not fully there,
but it's happening.
A sign of hope, I guess. Yes.
His story is so horrendous.
What has... What has he actually
done to deserve that treatment?
He hasn't done anything.
Imagine being punished
by your family,
thrown out by your family,
stabbed by colleagues,
acid thrown at you
for just being you.
Being punished for existing,
like, it's so...
It's just so inherently wrong.
Barbados is one of 18 Caribbean
countries and overseas territories
able to compete
in the Commonwealth Games.
They've all had homophobic laws,
but change is happening.
In 1991, the Bahamas abolished
their anti-gay laws.
Since then,
nine others have followed.
But in Jamaica,
being gay remains a crime.
The penalty - ten years'
imprisonment, with hard labour.
I've been sent some videos
from people on the ground
in Jamaica.
Just some examples of what happens
to queer people.
SHOUTING
It's live, it's live, it's live.
They've caught the perpetrator
and they're going to kill him now.
I'm live on the scene for 14.
I'm live on the scene...
They're recording this
as if it's some kind of joke.
Like they're hunting after...
..an animal.
There's another one.
I can't even watch that.
Someone is just being beaten
with a...pole.
You'd think that this was, like,
20 years ago,
but this was just last year.
It's flipped on its head everything
I thought about Jamaica,
quite frankly.
Everything I hear about Jamaica
is people in the UK
going there on holiday.
I mean, I'm sure the resorts
are lovely, but it doesn't
really give you the real sense of
Jamaica and what LGBT people face
if they were born here.
At the last Commonwealth Games,
Jamaica was the top-performing
Caribbean country with 27 medals.
I'm about to meet Michael Gunning,
who is currently the only out LGBathlete that represents Jamaica.
He was born in the UK,
grew up there, but does
have dual citizenship
and this is the first time
he's been back to Jamaica
since coming out.
You asked to meet here,
which is an isolated beach away
from as many people as possible.
What made you think that
that was so important to do?
I think just scared of our safety.
Like, I have this fear of us walking
in the street in Kingston
and us not looking as macho as
everyone else and us just sticking
out like a sore thumb.
So, what was it that actually made
you decide to compete for Jamaica
instead of Great Britain?
Obviously, my dad is Jamaican,
my mum's British and all of my
family kind of said that,
why don't I represent Jamaica?
You know, that I should be
flying the Jamaican flag,
but a year after competing,
that's when I decided to come out
and I think it was just
because if I didn't, it was honestly
going to eat me alive.
But there were so many messages
from people out in Jamaica sending
abuse and death threats
and just some
horrible, horrible messages.
I have got some saved.
So, one of the messages was,
"Shame on you.
"People like you should be killed.
"Why couldn't you have stuck
with Great Britain
"rather than bringing shame
to our country?
"Go back to where you came from.
"I wish you dead."
Oh, my God.
Yeah, it's just... Yeah.
I can imagine it was
like a really dark period. Yeah.
My dad told me not to talk
about it, just to do my job
and to swim, you know?
But I think, you know,
I do have Jamaican roots.
You know, I am dual nationality,
and I just felt so much shame, which
was just really hard to deal with.
Deep down, if you honestly ask me
if I could change back and almost
be straight,
I would love to be straight.
Pains me to say, but honestly,
I can't 100% say that I am happy
to be who I am.
Within the Jamaican team,
there has to be other gay people.
Have you had any gay athletes
reach out to you?
I've had some Jamaican athletes
that have been very open
about their sexuality with me,
but they're really scared
of it getting out and I can only do
so much to support and to tell them
that it's going to be OK.
But will it be OK?
You know, there is still
that massive question mark
on the unknown of, you know,
will they be safe?
Gay athletes actually living
in Jamaica are forced
to hide their sexuality, and many
have been too scared to talk.
In the last 24 hours, an athlete
has agreed to speak to me
and, understandably, they have asked
to be completely anonymous and meet
in a very secluded location
in order to be fully protected.
I know you've asked to meet
anonymously.
Could you tell me a little bit
about why that is?
Because you're basically taking
a chance to even entertain
the thought of talking about
your sexuality or your experiences
while living here in Jamaica
as an athlete.
Because, point blank,
there is no tolerance here.
What was your experience of growing
up and being queer in Jamaica?
Did you experience any forms
of homophobia?
You're more susceptible
to being ridiculed, stoned,
being verbally assaulted.
Stoned? Like, what, just...
just in the streets?
Stoned by kids, stoned by...
Just as you're walking
down the street, people are...
They will hurl insults at you.
What kind of things do they say?
Like...? They'll say butch,
dyke, sodomite.
Like a biblical reference
from Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah.
And then sometimes it might lead
into physical assault.
And, as an athlete, do you worry
about coming out in terms
of sponsorship,
being kicked off the team?
It plays on my mind all
the time, actually.
Imagine coming out and saying,
"OK, I'm a gay athlete."
I think a lot of companies here,
the first thing they will say is,
"This wouldn't be a good
example for our children.
"I don't want to be associated
with that."
What do you think can be done
in order to make queer people feel
safer within the realm of sport?
Even as small as it may be,
show the Pride flag.
It will make a big difference.
Once you can fly the flag
in a sporting event and no-one
is being abusive towards it,
that says safety.
That's what I believe, personally.
I believe the Commonwealth Games
can do more to help,
but one of the problems
with changing things here
is that you have to deal
with a lot of toxic history.
Hundreds of years ago, people were
captured from Africa and shipped
to Jamaica to work on the island's
British-owned slave plantations.
I'm meeting Carla Moore,
a university lecturer specialising
in race and sexuality.
Hi, Carla. Hi, Tom.
How are you? I'm pretty good.
How are you?
I'm doing well, thank you.
She's been researching the link
between homophobia today
and the slave trade.
On the plantation,
gay sex wasn't allowed
and it wasn't allowed specifically
because it doesn't make a baby.
So it was beneficial to the
plantation owner for people
to be having heterosexual sex
because they could get
a "free slave" out of the union.
So we have whippings, lynchings
on the plantation for people
who are engaging in same-sex sex.
And then you have something
that's called buck breaking.
Buck breaking? Buck breaking, yes.
Buck breaking is anal rape
of enslaved men
as a form of punishment.
The slave owner would carry him out
in front of his family, in front
of the friends, and he would rape
him as a way to break his spirit.
Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
And so what we have is this very
complicated history of sexual trauma
that went on for, like, 300 years.
And if the representation you have
of queerness is plantation
owners sexually assaulting men,
you get the idea that it's a white
people thing, it's a thing that
white people do to black people
to harm them. The end result of
that is a homophobia we see today
and, actually, that the level
of the country, it's also about,
I have to make it clear that you're
not in charge here any more.
You're not the master
of this country any more.
We get to determine how
we're going to proceed.
And, unfortunately, that plays out
on the bodies of LGBT people.
Everything you've just told me,
it's... It makes everything make
complete sense, you know?
It honestly makes me feel
sick to be British
when you just hear these things.
I get that.
That's level one.
Level two is, "Now what?"
You know I'm saying? Like, stop
coming down here to make us feel
like we're the worst people in the
world. We've had enough of that.
Is there another approach
that we can take?
Because even though there is still
homophobia, LGBT Jamaicans,
advocates for LGBT Jamaicans
have been working for years,
but some people still have us
stuck at the most homophobic
place on Earth,
and it's very disrespectful to the
work that the advocates are doing.
It is easy to fall into the trap
of thinking that they've got
a problem with homophobia
and we're all queer-inclusive,
but that's just not the case, and
it's not helpful for the people
around the Commonwealth to be
constantly pointing a finger at
that "they haven't removed the
laws". It's not as simple as that.
I've just learned so much today
that it's really like...quite...
I don't know. It's overwhelming.
I'm taking Carla's advice
and going to meet a prominent
campaigner to see what he thinks
the Commonwealth Games
can do to help.
I'm about to go and meet Glenroy
Murray, who is the executive
director of J-Flag, which is a LGBrights organisation here in Jamaica.
Unfortunately, in Jamaica, LGBpeople face a myriad of challenges.
He's doing some kind of promotional
video for J-Flag in the middle
of the town in Kingston.
From everything I've heard,
that just shouldn't
happen in Jamaica.
And we're done.
What are you doing here?
So what we're doing is we're
shooting a campaign video
and we've shot at this mural
before, because it's one
of our installations.
The Pride-like colours
are deliberate in this.
Yes, it's just our way
of showing people
that we're just
like the rest of them.
Do you not feel, like, worried
about filming, you know,
an LGBT-rights campaign
in the middle of Kingston?
We're aware that violence
and discrimination is a thing
that LGBT people continue to face,
but this kind of activism is needed,
so we're always going to try
to push the envelope.
How can events like the Commonwealth
Games help to create some kind
of change here in Jamaica?
Big sporting events capture
the attention of the public,
and it sounds simple,
but the world is watching.
If we see LGBT rights being
acknowledged within those spaces,
we'll get people to a space where
they feel like, "You know what?
"Why do we continue to treat queer
people in this way, especially
"when they are the ones that are
making us proud about our country?"
Sport in Jamaica might have a long
way to go, but people like Glenroy
are starting to change things.
There have actually been Pride
marches here since 2015,
and gay Jamaicans are
becoming more visible.
Glenroy has invited me
to meet some of his friends,
but I have no idea what to expect.
He said it's a queer-friendly space
and I am excited by the prospect
of being able to hang out with
queer Jamaicans in a public place.
Hello. Hi. Good to see you.
Hi! Good to see you, too.
How you doing? Nice to meet you.
Oh, you can just join us.
Yeah, I'd love that. Absolutely.
Scoot over, scoot over.
The thought of this - being, like,
with queer people in public,
you know, having drinks,
like, to me, like,
I just didn't know that
that existed in Jamaica.
I remember Carnival,
I was on halfway through
and they started stoning the gays.
But now we are able to integrate
into spaces with, like, the regular
community. Just as Jamaica now
is probably very unrecognisable
to somebody who lived here
in the early 2000s,
it would be very unrecognisable
to me by 2030.
So I'm very excited
for what the future holds.
Coming here today and spending time
with a group of queer Jamaicans,
seeing how happy they are,
and happy they are to be visible,
it does fill me with hope.
I don't know, I feel more
motivated than ever
to really try and fight for change.
It's two months until the athletes
arrive in Birmingham
and now I'm taking the thoughts
of the people that I've met
and putting them
into a manifesto to send to
the Commonwealth Games Federation.
The bulk of the things that
I'm asking for are easily put
into action quickly.
Things like putting a pro-LGBstance at the forefront
of the Commonwealth Games ethos.
Educational programmes
around the British Empire.
Sensitivity training
for all of the Commonwealth Games
staff and volunteers.
Refugee resources that allow you to
be able to start seeking asylum
in the country that is hosting.
Now, this is the big ask -
to have the Pride flag play
an official part at the Opening
Ceremony, something that a sporting
event of this size
has never done before.
I think it would just send
a bold message to everyone
across the Commonwealth
that the Commonwealth Games accepts
and embraces queer people.
And I think that would be a hugely
powerful statement to send
to everyone watching
around the Commonwealth.
"I hope we can move forward and use
sport as a power for change."
If they want to make it happen,
they will, but...
Yeah, I just...
Yeah, I'm kind of nervous.
I've been negotiating, doing phone
calls, back-and-forth emails
for months now, trying to figure out
what exactly can happen
at the Commonwealth Games
Opening Ceremony.
LINE RINGING
Commonwealth Games Federation.
Hello, it's Tom Daley here.
LINE RINGING
Just wanted to give you a quick
call to talk about plans
for the Opening Ceremony.
There are a lot of doors
that were slammed in our faces,
there was a lot of things
that were suggested
and then shut down and suggested
and shut down,
but after months, we've finally
come up with something.
They finally agreed to allow
the Pride flag to be included.
And not just one -
there's going to be six.
In a really official part, too -
the Queen's Baton Relay -
and it's going to be carried
by people from all over
the Commonwealth.
Hi, Tom. Athletes and advocates
that I've met along the way.
Hey, Tom.
Hi, Glenroy, how are you?
We've got people representing
asylum seekers and refugees.
Honestly, I've already cried a lot
about this, because you just don't
imagine in your wildest dreams
that something
like this could happen.
I am so excited and just so grateful
that you are getting
involved in this.
If I had seen this moment as a young
lesbian growing up in Zimbabwe,
it would have meant
everything for me.
It would have meant I am not alone.
People who have fought to change
the law in their country.
People that have had to flee
their country.
This is quite an historic moment,
the first time that the Pride flag
is being flown proudly
at a major sporting event,
so that's huge.
This is really going to be
ground-breaking now.
For generations, people will be
talking about it.
It's the first major sporting
event to do this.
Like, they are going to change
history in the way that sport
and the LGBT community
come together.
I'm kind of nervous, super excited
and almost just... I just still
just can't quite believe
that over a billion people
are going to see the Pride flags
walk out at the Opening Ceremony.
Hello, everyone. Nice to see you.
Hello. Good to see you.
Hello, hello, hello. Oh!
This moment means so much
to the six advocates.
I can't believe it's all
finally happening.
It's the fact that it's happening
at the Commonwealth Games.
Yes. We are occupying spaces
where it matters and we don't
have to apologise for it,
we don't have to beg for it,
because we belong here.
Three, two, one!
CHEERING
And now it is my honour to say
welcome to Birmingham.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
ANDREW COTTER: The Prince of Wales
and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Hello, Birmingham. You all right?
We are ready. Let's go.
This is what we've been working
towards. This huge moment
of visibility for LGBT people across
the Commonwealth to feel seen
and to feel acknowledged.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
CHEERING
For the last 300 days,
over 7,000 baton bearers
have carried the Queen's baton
across the Commonwealth in the name
of their chosen cause.
And now, completing
this epic journey,
please welcome our
final baton bearers.
Starting with five-times
Commonwealth medal-winner
for diving, Tom Daley!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Tom is running in support
of LGBT+ rights, and tonight
has been joined by flag-bearers
representing some of the
35 Commonwealth countries
where homosexuality
is still a crime.
He runs in solidarity with all LGBT+
athletes and communities.
CHEERING
This was an incredibly emotional
moment, but this wasn't about me.
This is about every single LGBperson around the Commonwealth,
around the world, that they might
have seen that tonight
and been given a little bit of hope.
Even if it can make the smallest
difference to someone out there,
it was all worth it because someone
today might have seen that and felt
a little less alone in the world.
Big things come from small
beginnings,
and today the Commonwealth
Games made history.
But the Olympics, the football
World Cup and Formula 1
still have a long way to go.
I just see this as the start.
I want other sporting events
to take note
because we're not going anywhere.
CHEERING