First Openly Gay Olympian Doesn't Want Mike Pence At Olympics

United States Olympian Adam Rippon, a figure skater who is believed to be the first openly gay member of the US Winter Olympic team, isn't keen on Vice President and former Republican Indiana Governor Mike Pence being in Pyeongchang, South Korea next month. According to New York Post, Rippon isn't holding back his disapproval of the team's visit with Pence ahead of the Opening Ceremony, in addition to having Pence lead the 2018 US Olympic delegation in South Korea, due to one of the VP's perceived stances on gay rights that revolves around conversion therapy.

“You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy?” NY Post reports Rippon said in an interview Tuesday with USA Today. “I’m not buying it."

This comes after 28-year-old Rippon recently said he would not attend President Trump’s White House celebration following the Winter Games in Pyeongchang.

NY Post reports Rippon also added, “If it were before my event, I would absolutely not go out of my way to meet somebody who I felt has gone out of their way to not only show that they aren’t a friend of a gay person but that they think that they’re sick. I wouldn’t go out of my way to meet somebody like that.”

However, the news oulet reports Rippon may have a potential scheduling conflict with the team figure skating competition, during the meet-and-greet with Pence before the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 9, but knows what his choice would be.

Rippon, the 2016 US men’s figure skating champion who earned his first Olympic berth with a fourth-place finish at the national championships this month, openly criticized Pence and the presidential administration, including a statement Pence made during his 2000 congressional campaign that “[resources] should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.”

NY Post reports Pence also signed a bill into law while governor of Indiana called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which has been heavily criticized as anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Pence previously denied backing the treatment through his spokesperson, and his current press secretary, Alyssa Farah, similarly contradicted the statement in an email statement Wednesday to USA Today, according to NY Post:

“The vice president is proud to lead the U.S. delegation to the Olympics and support America’s incredible athletes. This accusation is totally false and has no basis in fact,” Farah wrote. “Despite these misinformed claims, the vice president will be enthusiastically supporting all the U.S. athletes competing next month in Pyeongchang.”

NY Post says that while Rippon won't protest the Trump administration at the Olympics, he said he would have been open to meeting with Pence after the Games are over to air out some of these issues with a possibility to have open conversation.

More details on this story at nypost.com

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press