His remarks got under Mike Pence's skin. So the VP asked to meet. It didn't work out.

[RKP5637]

Dense Pense!!!

?auto=format&ixlib=imgixjs-3.3.0&w=900

As the first openly gay American athlete to qualify for the winter Olympics, figure skater Adam Rippon has a lot of things on his plate right now — chief among them, prepping for his performances in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

One item that won't make his to-do list? Meeting Vice President Mike Pence.

Rippon made waves last month for blasting Pence for his bigoted views on LGBTQ issues after it was announced the vice president would be leading the U.S. delegation in the Games' opening ceremony on Feb. 9.

“You mean Mike Pence — the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy?” Rippon said. “I’m not buying it.”

The vice president has been under fire from LGBTQ rights advocates for once supporting so-called "gay conversion therapy" — a dangerous practice that attempts to change a person's sexual orientation. Pence has denied ever endorsing the practice. Yet, his 2000 congressional campaign website read "resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior."

Rippon's not the only Olympian who's criticized the decision to make Pence the country's delegation leader.

[MineralMan]

1. Do not enter a room with Mike Pence, I beg you!

It is not safe, even if "Mother" is there.

[Ms. Toad]

10. Please don't suggest political opponents are gay.

It is offensive to be used as an insult, especially when that insult is combined with a suggestion of predatory behavior.

[RKP5637]

11. That's a good point!!! I certainly did not mean it that way, but I see what you mean.

I just went back and deleted it! Thanks for letting me know!

[Ms. Toad]

30. Thank you! n/t

[leftieNanner]

14. I agree with you - this should never be used as an insult.

That being said, I believe that Mike Pence is about as deeply closeted as it is possible to be. I find it rather tragic, actually. If it's true, then he will never be allowed to be his true self and in his position in the White House he can do a great deal of damage to the LGBTQ community.

[The Mouth]

24. Agree

As with J Edgar Hoover.

Genuine tragedy, in the original meaning, that being that the hurt and damage arise from the internal flaws of the individual.

Sad; the person who doesn't know and like their real self is the one that does the most damage to others.

[Hekate]

36. A man who needs to be chaperoned at all times by the wife he calls "Mother" has issues...

...too deep to plumb.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

47. ☝️That.

Exactly! Unfathomable.

[SWBTATTReg]

57. I know, and this behavior is sick. My spouse is NOT my mother! Repulsive and sick...nt

[SamKnause]

3. I would not want to meet with any Republican politician.

They are the enemy !!!!!!!

I wouldn't open the front door for Pence, Trump, or any Republican politician.

They are EVIL FUCKING LIARS.

They destroy everything they touch.

EVIL !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GWC58]

6. I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY!

And they know they are and try and hide behind a flag draped cross.😤

[RKP5637]

8. I agree 1,000% +++ These was a time I guess one could say that some still didn't get what's

going on, but after a year of tRump, there just is no excuse. If someone is still republican today, I consider them to be really stupid, crooked as hell and/or one evil individual. All the red flags go up for me!!!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

48. Another *agree* from me.

Effing Pukes 🤮

[Leghorn21]

4. I love this kid with all my heart and soul!! I might even have to watch a bit of Olympics to

cheer him on!!

FUCK YEAH ADAM RIPPON

[LanternWaste]

5. I'm going to cheer this kid on.

I'm going to cheer this kid on.

Despite the dullards who pretend sincerity when they ask "why not cheer on the best qualified athlete?"

[jberryhill]

7. Ummm....

"As the first openly gay American athlete to qualify for the winter Olympics"

Who threw Johnny Weir under the bus?

Mr. Weir was certainly "openly fabulous", and I hope NBC will have him back for commentary this month.

[RKP5637]

9. Wow, yes, that is an excellent point!!!!!! n/t

[greyl]

13. Upworthy.com, source of OP

His remarks got under Mike Pence's skin. So the VP asked to meet. It … didn't work out.


As the first openly gay American athlete to qualify for the winter Olympics, figure skater Adam Rippon has a lot of things on his plate right now — chief among them, prepping for his performances in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

One item that won't make his to-do list? Meeting Vice President Mike Pence.

Rippon made waves last month for blasting Pence for his bigoted views on LGBTQ issues after it was announced the vice president would be leading the U.S. delegation in the Games' opening ceremony on Feb. 9.
“You mean Mike Pence — the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy?” Rippon said. “I’m not buying it.”

http://www.upworthy.com/his-remarks-got-under-mike-pence-s-skin-so-the-vp-asked-to-meet-it-didn-t-work-out

[kwassa]

15. He was on the other night with a pompadour.

NBC promo show for the upcoming Olympics.

[caraher]

17. Upworthy says, in another article, that Weir wasn't

I think this is pretty ungenerous towards Weir, but this is the claim at least:

Other male LGBTQ athletes have competed in the winter games in years past — notably, fellow figure skaters Johnny Weir and Brian Boitano — but none had been open about their sexual orientation heading into the competition.

I say "ungenerous" because I wouldn't have said Weir has ever been "closeted" while in the public eye.

[jberryhill]

23. A fine distinction, I guess

Yeah, I wouldn't have thought he was ever "in", such that being "out" would be a big deal.

I do admire his commentary. And his wardrobe.

[whopis01]

18. Johhny Weir didn't officially come out until 2011

so he technically didn't qualify for the Winter Olympics as an openly gay athlete.

Here is what he had to say about it:

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/01/24/johnny-weir-explains-why-he-waited-to-publicly-come-out-as-gay/23342798/

[jberryhill]

21. ah

Fair enough.

[luvtheGWN]

22. Adam is the first American figure skating competitor to openly declare he is gay.

Neither Johnny Weir, nor Brian Boitano, Rudy Galindo and a whole host of other male skaters declare, prior to ending their competing careers. At least Adam is not concerned that the judges are biased against his being gay -- times have changed, thank goodness.

Frankly, it's absolutely no one's business whether they -- or anyone else -- are gay, but kudos to Adam Rippon for rejecting Pence's Olympic "leadership". Likewise the Eagles players who are refusing an invitation to the White House.

[dsc]

25. Weir wasn't openly gay while competing in the Olympics

He came out in 2011 and the last Olympics he competed in was 2010

[BlancheSplanchnik]

49. Oh! I remember him even though I havent watched Olympics in forever.

I’m not sure how to get it on my tv which is set up for Netflix.

[MontanaMama]

12. Adam Rippon!

What a brave young man you are. You don't even have to step on the ice - you have already made us proud!! Keep speaking truth to power and
Go Team USA!

[DownriverDem]

16. Get Ready

If pence ever becomes president, we will all be seeing a radical religious RWNJ push his repub Christian views on the rest of us. We will be filing lawsuit after lawsuit.

[calimary]

20. He's nothing but a closed-minded, sanctimonious Christofascist.

I'm still convinced that the reason trump picked him as a running mate was to dog-whistle his intention to force his under-the-radar "Make America White Again" agenda. Mike Pence is certainly the whitest white guy I've ever seen.

[Honeycombe8]

19. Kudos to him for speaking out. I didn't see a reference to a mtg request in the story, tho.nt

[Gothmog]

26. This athlete needs to ignore that moron/bigot pence and concentrate on his events

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. The very idea this man child who fears women and gay people would be in any position of power

over the life of any human being is a disgrace.

We should be ASHAMED of ourselves!

[maxrandb]

28. Here is the perfect example of how you deal with these pricks

When they try that "good Retrumplican/bad Retrumplican Shit... tell them to go fuck themselves.

[Maraya1969]

29. My sister in law has a sister who looks gay. Seriously gay

They are white evangelicals. About a year ago I emailed SIL and suggested she offer to have a wedding for that other sister. Mind you everyone in that family have had big weddings except that one sister. Even though she is always with another woman who looks as gay as she does.

My SIL wrote me back and told me she was insulted that I would call her sister gay! Then she said that her sister believed that marriage was between 1 man and 1 woman.

I know my brother used to try and get people into anti-gay therapy, (he is a retired pastor) and I've said plenty to him over the years about it. But I never thought that they may have pushed this sister into it. I don't know if they actually did that or the sister learned from their parents that if she is gay to never come out. I know how my brother shunned me years ago when I had a relationship, (or a few) with a woman.

Evangelicals bastardize the teachings of Jesus

[RKP5637]

44. Evangelicals are a cult and the opposite of everything Jesus ever taught! They love spreading

misery onto others.

[YOHABLO]

31. Mike Pence is an insult to all gay athletes in the closet or out of the closet.

[Angry Dragon]

43. Pence is an insult to his god

[Initech]

32. Go back to your safe space, Vice President Snowflake!

[betsuni]

33. DisPence with manners, everyone should snub Pence.

So embarrassing to have him at the Olympics, always holding Mother's hand tightly, being a good boy. The way he scrunches up his eyes to make it look like he's thinking, his Serious Face, enrages me. Another Republican face you'd love to slap, but in Pence's case he'd LOVE to be slapped so you can't think about it, all you can do turn away, disgusted, and try to snub as best you can.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. You said "DisPence" like that ! Also love how he scrunches up his

eye to feign thinking ! perfect observation b !!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

34. Huh? How did the whole thing get under Pence's skin (title) ??

Not reading anything about a meeting? what'd I miss RKP ??

[RKP5637]

45. Hi, here's more on it here.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/07/politics/adam-rippon-mike-pence-winter-olympics/index.html

[FakeNoose]

37. How about Olympic gold medal diver Greg Louganis?

Louganis' sexual orientation was known even in the 1980's I believe. And he was far from being the only one. Whoever wrote this article showed a lot of ignorance of Olympic history. This reporter should have done a little more research before claiming that Adam Rippon is the first "openly gay" athlete on the US Olympic team.

[tclambert]

38. Looked it up. He didn't publicly come out until 1994,

though he wasn't exactly hiding it. His last Olympics was in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. So it's an argument about what "openly gay" means.

[FakeNoose]

39. OK

We've known about him for a long time. Also there have been several male skaters but I'm not here to mention names. The article would have been just fine without that incorrect statement.

It's really about Pence and his phony fundie beliefs anyway.

[Rhiannon12866]

41. That's what I was thinking - there must be other gay athletes

Whether we know about them or not. And all the athletes have enough on their plate without having to deal with Mike Pence.

[jberryhill]

40. Not a winter Olympic sport

[Angry Dragon]

42. Pence is evil

[RKP5637]

46. He is, even more so than Trump IMO. n/t

[romana]

50. We must not

let Pence’s homophobic history go down the memory hole. Good for Rippon!

[RKP5637]

53. Pence, is a very very dangerous creature. IMO he's worse than Trump! n/t

[lunasun]

51. Pence leave him alone at this great moment in his skating career

[MontanaMama]

52. This athlete has more important things

to do to prep for competition than meet with VP Toolie McToolerson. I wouldn’t doubt Pence wants to distract Rippon in order to hijack his chances to win so that a gay man would be denied a medal. These people are just that evil.

[RKP5637]

54. I would not put it past Pence. He's a very very evil creature! Just looking at Pence one can tell

he's F'ed up in his head.

[SpankMe]

55. "Pense" is only a letter and a swap away from "Penis" n/t

[RKP5637]

56. And he's a horrible creature. Just looking at him gives me the creeps. n/t

[maryellen99]

58. Pence also bought Otto Warmbiers dad as part of the delegation

Sorry but Otto Warmbier is not worth starting Nuclear War/WW3 over.

[niyad]

59. so, the homophobic, misogynyistic, racist little weirdo is heading the US delegation? what an

insult to the athletes.

[RKP5637]

60. ... saw him on TV today there. He just looks so damn creepy! It's like you know he's really

evil and weird. How horrible this creature is representing the US.