Gay US Olympian Declines to Meet with Pence During Winter Olympics

February 8, 2018 Winter Olympics
Screenshot of Olympic skater Adam Rippon at 2017 Grand Prix Finalq

U.S. Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon is unhappy with the White House’s decision to have Vice President Mike Pence to lead the U.S. delegation at the Winter Olympics.

“You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy?” Rippon said in a report by USA Today last month. “I’m not buying it.”

Rippon, who is the first openly gay athlete to win a spot on the U.S. Winter Olympics team, reportedly declined an invitation to meet with Pence leading up to this month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea.

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

Pence has taken to Twitter about this situation, calling the reports, “Fake news.”

Pence has also sent a personal tweet directly to Rippon, encouraging Rippon not to get distracted by fake news and assuring Rippon that, “We are for you.”

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Arianna is College Media Network's Weekend Editor and a student at Penn State University. She has written for various websites, including Thought Catalog and The Odyssey Online. Arianna also runs her own blog called Yoga With Mimosas in which she combines her passion for fitness and writing in hopes of inspiring and empowering others through her work.

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