Community pledges support for gay Olympic diver

Supporters of out Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham have offered to pay for his boyfriend to join him in Beijing later this year if an application for Johnson & Johnson Athlete Family Support is turned down.

Mitcham and his partner Lachlan will find out if their application was successful on Friday, but SSO readers didn’t want the couple worrying, offering to match the $5000 program dollar for dollar or with Frequent Flyer points.

I was quite moved by the courage, integrity and honesty of Matthew and would like to assist him with getting his boyfriend over to the Games to watch him, one reader with enough points to get to Beijing and back wrote.

There aren’t a lot of flights in and out, but it appears I could get him a seat into Beijing before Matthew’s scheduled events start, and can get him a seat back from Hong Kong after the 10m platform final -” Matthew’s medal-winning final, of course.

Another couple contacted the Family Support program coordinators directly, offering to make a $5,000 donation.

We support -˜out and proud’ gay role models for the benefit of future generations of emerging gay youth, the couple wrote.

We would be happy to donate anonymously, either directly or as a targeted donation through your program.

They didn’t want to interfere with the grants selection process, they said, because it would be better for Mitcham and the gay community if his application was successful in its own right.

The only caveat: My partner and I would want Matt to know why we are willing to support him.