The gay activists who won an Olympic-sized battle

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2024

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1993 the legislators in Cobb County Atlanta passed a resolution stating that “lifestyles advocated by the gay community are incompatible with the standards to which this community describes“. The northern suburb was due to welcome the Olympics in 1996 as host of the volleyball competition. This is the inspiring story of a small campaign group who forced a change. After months of high-profile protests the organising committee stripped Cobb County as a host venue and diverted the torch relay away from its streets.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC World Service, the program that follows contains strong language from the start and reflects attitudes of the time.
0:10.0	Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. I'm Wanda Ginnett and this is
0:15.8	the gay activists who won an Olympic-sized battle. Take me to Atlanta where the beach trees grow.
0:26.8	Take me to Atlanta down in Georgia Road.
0:32.0	When I was selected to compete at the Atlanta Olympics, it was a dream come true.
0:37.0	There you have it. The announcement is in Atlanta, Georgia will be the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics.
0:44.6	What a tremendous moment.
0:46.5	But instead of the Olympic ideals
0:52.3	of excellence, respect, and friendship, the lead up to the
0:56.2	games was dominated by hate, discrimination, and bigotry.
0:59.8	9 PM.
1:01.0	You don't deserve to live. You've brought disease and pestilence to an otherwise straight and normal heterosexual society.
1:10.0	I recognize you bought your queers as a pervert.
1:12.6	That's all you are.
1:13.6	Yeah, the sooner all you homo sickos drop dead from AIDS, the better off the rest of us are going to be.
1:20.0	End of message.
1:21.0	Message is discarded.
1:24.0	But just north of Atlanta, the neighboring Cobb County where the volleyball competition was taking place.
1:30.0	There was nothing like a warm welcome for athletes like me who identify as gay
1:34.7	I have homosexual family members homosexuals in my church that I dearly love but I
1:39.7	Cannot and will not embrace their lifestyle.
1:44.0	Neon Nazis, we say no!
	...

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