From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 08 Jul 94 08:06:54 EDT

Diver Louganis: Change volleyball venue

           By Karen Rosen, staff writer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution
     St. Louis -- Olympic champion diver Greg  Louganis on Thursday urged
Atlanta Olympics  organizers to move volleyball preliminaries from  Cobb
County because of the county's condemnation  of the "gay lifestyle."
     "It's an important issue to me," Louganis said  in his first major
statement as an openly gay  athlete.
     He addressed the Cobb issue after receiving one  of the U.S. Olympic
Committee's highest awards,  the Robert J. Kane award, before about 1,000
  people at the U.S. Olympic Festival.
     Louganis, who won four Olympic gold medals in  1984 and 1988, is the
first high-profile gay  athlete to lobby for moving the volleyball venue.
     "Now, added to normal pressures of competition,  the gay athletes who
participate in volleyball  preliminaries will have the added pressure of
 knowing they're not wanted in Cobb County," he  said.
     The County Commission passed a resolution last  summer condemning the
"gay lifestyle" and last  month narrowly rejected a move to alter it.
     "I think the people of Cobb County have the  right to pass whatever
resolutions they want, but by passing an anti-gay resolution they've made it
  clear that some of the athletes will not be  welcome."
     He added that the USOC has sent an important  message by selecting "an
openly gay athlete" for  the Kane award.
     "Now you can reinforce that message by  encouraging the Atlanta
Committee for the Olympic  Games to move the volleyball preliminaries to a
 venue that welcomes all athletes, including gay  and lesbian athletes."
     It was not immediately clear whether his  statement will make an impact
on the Atlanta  Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG).
     In its official response, ACOG said it respects Louganis'
accomplishments and appreciates his  opinions but still hopes "the Cobb
County  Commission and the various parties involved will  reach a compromise
acceptable to all.
     "In the meantime, we are continuing to explore  our options, keeping in
mind that our first  obligation is to the athletes who will come here  in
1996."
     ACOG officials have been under intense pressure  to remove preliminary
volleyball matches from the  Cobb Galleria Centre because of the resolution.