Pride House (for real this time)

The Olympic clock is ticky-ticky tick tocking away and the first ever Pride House (the welcoming place for gay Olympians, coaches, family and entourage in Whistler) is making headlines (see here and here)

Want regular updates on Pride House and Olympic activities in Whistler? Follow them on Twitter: @pridehouse2010 and @gaywhistler (and while you’re at it, you’ll follow me to if you know what’s good for you: @seanhorlor)

Still not sure what the hell I’m talking about? Here’s a summary from the gaywhistler.com site:

The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are coming to Whistler and
for the first time in Olympic history there will be a venue available
to our Gay & Lesbian athletes, coaches, family, friends and
allies. A venue we call – PRIDE House.

PRIDE House is located in the centre of Whistler Village at the
award winning boutique hotel of Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre.

PRIDE House will be a hip lounge with a cocktail bar with TV
monitors to watch the Olympics, hang out, trade pins, a media area to
do interviews, and a venue to just have fun. PRIDE House will be
designed with the core values of celebrating authenticity, diversity
and inclusiveness.

PRIDE House will be open from February 8th through to March 21st.
The hours of operation is scheduled from 10AM to 10PM daily. (Subject
to Change)

If you get the chance to check out Pride House during the games, you’ll be greeted by the following sculpture by Edmund Haakanson:

Called “Slapshotolus”, it is, according to Haakanson: “a symbolic expression of the concept that one who lives a life of
noble ideals does not require protection, does not need to cover
because there is nothing to hide.”

Marry me!

In other news, Qmunity will be the gathering spot for gay athletes in Vancouver during the Games and you should plan on heading to Score to share a beer or three with said atheletes or to catch coverage of the games on their dazzling array of TVs.

Are you in the know on LGBT Olympic events during the Games? If yes, contact me at vancouvergayblog@gmail.com and give me the low down so I can share the good news with the rest of the city.