During an appearance on CNN, out
Olympian Greg Louganis discussed how Vice President Mike Pence once
promised he would pray for him.
Louganis dominated diving in the early
80s, winning gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics. He
publicly came out gay in 1994. In his best-selling memoir Breaking
the Surface, which was released in 1995, Louganis came out
HIV-positive. In 2013, he married Johnny Chaillot, a paralegal at a
law firm in Los Angeles.
Louganis appeared on CNN to discuss out
figure skater Adam Rippon's decision to not meet with Pence over the
vice president's opposition to LGBT rights.
(Related: Mike
Pence tweets at Adam Rippon; Calls reports he supports “ex-gay”
therapy fake news.)
Louganis told Don Lemon that Pence, the
governor of Indiana at the time, invited him to a meeting after
learning that Louganis was escorted out of a press conference during
a visit to Indianapolis to promote a book written by Ryan White's
mother Jeanne Elaine Hale.
“And I shared with him what it was
like growing up being gay,” Louganis said. “And I was born this
way. Being bullied and suicide attempts. All his response was,
'I'll pray for you.'”
“Of course, he wanted a photo op and
I declined,” he
added.
Pence has denied reports that he
supports “conversion therapy,” which attempts to alter the
sexuality or gender identity of LGBT people. The therapy is often
couched in religious terms, which is why it has earned the nickname
“pray away the gay.”