Did NBC Censor Gay Olympian’s Sexuality?

Openly gay Aussie diver Matthew Mitcham’s Gold Medal moment for his win in the Men’s 10-Meter Platform Dive contest was the triumphant payoff to an unlikely and sensational victory by the 20-year-old diver from Down Under. But NBC’s censoring of the young athlete’s background and family structure marred that moment for many GLBT viewers of the Olympics. While major mainstream media in the U.S. pointedly ignored the fact that Mitcham’s Significant Other was on hand to see Mitcham take the gold—thanks to a family support program underwritten by Johnson & Johnson—GLBT media ran with the story. So did at least one online news outlet in Australia. Outsports, a GLBT-themed online publication devoted to covering athletics, published an Aug. 24 article decrying the omission: “It’s a big story. The only openly gay male athlete in Beijing pulled off one of the great upsets at the Olympics in a spectacular fashion.” Read Article

By Kilian Melloy