Adam Rippon, Gay Figure Skater, Unhappy About Mike Pence Heading Olympic Delegation

Figure skater Adam Rippon, who is reportedly the first openly homosexual athlete to qualify for the Olympics from the United States, on Tuesday denounced the White House decision to select Vice President Mike Pence for heading the country's delegation to the South Korean Winter Olympics.

Rippon, 28, who was selected to the Olympic team this month, said, “You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy? … I’m not buying it,” USA Today reported.

Rippon added he would prefer not meeting Pence during the usual meet-and-greet session between the official delegation and the athletes, which takes place before the Olympics opening ceremony, the report said.

“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. … I wouldn’t go out of my way to meet somebody like that,” Rippon said.

Rippon said Pence didn’t have “a real concept of reality.” After that, the figure skater took a dig at President Donald Trump and also blasted Pence for standing by the president regardless of Trump’s highly debated “shithole” comment, which he made while referring to countries such as Haiti and El Salvador, USA Today reported.

“To stand by some of the things that Donald Trump has said and for Mike Pence to say he’s a devout Christian man is completely contradictory. … If he’s okay [Pence] with what’s being said about people and Americans and foreigners and about different countries that are being called ‘shitholes,' I think he should really go to church,” added Rippon.

The report further read the perception that Pence supported gay conversion therapies originated from a statement in his campaign website in 2000 which stated, “Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.”

According to fact-checking website Snopes, although the statement didn’t directly point out that Pence supported “gay conversion” therapies, it was interpreted he was supportive of “curing people,” who are attracted to the same sex.

Pence’s secretary Alyssa Farah, in a statement emailed to USA Today, said with regards to Rippon’s comments, “The vice president is proud to lead the U.S. delegation to the Olympics and support America’s incredible athletes. … This accusation is totally false and has no basis in fact. Despite these misinformed claims, the vice president will be enthusiastically supporting all the U.S. athletes competing next month in Pyeongchang.”

Rippon was, however, slightly more open to the prospect of meeting Pence after competing in the Olympics.

“If I had the chance to meet him [Pence] afterwards, after I’m finished competing, there might be a possibility to have an open conversation,” said Rippon. “He seems more mild-mannered than Donald Trump…But I don’t think the current administration represents the values that I was taught growing up. Mike Pence doesn’t stand for anything that I really believe in.”

Adam Rippon was born Nov. 11, 1989, in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. Rippon is the oldest of six children and was raised by a single mother. He started to skate before his 10th birthday, when his mother took him to an ice rink during a Pennsylvania winter.

Rippon won the U.S. Nationals in 2016. He was also the only one to ever win the World Junior Figure Skating Championships two consecutive times — in 2008 and 2009. He also holds the titles of Junior Grand Prix Final (2007), U.S. Junior Championship (2008) and Four Continents Figure Skating Championship (2010).

He was born deaf. Before his first birthday, Rippon underwent a surgery at Yale University after which he could hear almost normally. He came out as gay on Oct. 2, 2015.

With regards to being the first openly gay athlete to be selected for Olympics, Rippon said, “It’s 2018 and being an openly gay man and an athlete, that is part of the face of America now.”