Olympic star Gus Kenworthy insists he will refuse Donald Trump’s White House invitation
"I have no interest in faking support."
Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy has claimed he will refuse to shake Donald Trump’s hand.
The former Attitude cover star, who came out publicly to ESPN the Magazine in 2015, spoke about the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea and addressed Donald Trump’s “attacks” on the LGBT community in an interview with Time.
Kenworthy explained he feels an “obligation” to push back against Donald Trump over his attempt at barring trans people from serving in the military.
He said: “That is just a direct attack on the LGBT community. It shows more courage to leave the house as a trans person than Trump has ever had to show.”
After the Olympics, Team USA members are normally invited to the White House, but Kenworthy claims he won’t accept an offer from the President.
“I have no interest in faking support,” he said. “I don’t want to go shake his hand.”
Kenworthy also revealed that homophobic taunts were common among the top freeskiiers as “f*g” was used as a term of ridicule and bad tricks were dismissed as gay.
“When you hear language like that getting thrown around, it puts you in a closet even more than you were before,” he said.
The 26-year-old revealed his thought about being the first openly gay man to compete in the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.
He said: “The thought of being the first openly gay male ever to compete in the Winter Olympis – I totally embrace that.”
“I so badly want to inspire that community and do well for them. it’s f*cking cool,” he added.
The 2018 Winter Olympics will take place in Pyeongchang in South Korea in February 2018.