No doubt, members of the LGBTQ+ community have been competing at the Olympic Winter Games for decades. In recent years, more and more have come out and shared their whole selves with the world. At the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, Pride House Milan 2026 will be a place to celebrate diversity and inclusion in sport and to support the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies.
The venue is the MEET Digital Culture Center, which will embody Olympic values such as unity, respect and inclusion. Along with providing a warm and friendly place, Pride House will host events, performances and talks. Starting Feb. 6, the day of the Opening Ceremony, visitors can follow the Games live streamed and raise awareness through meetings with athletes and international guests.
Among the Olympic athletes taking part is Canadian pairs skater Eric Radford, a three-time Olympian (2014, ’18 and ’22) and three-time Olympic medalist (gold, silver and bronze). Since retiring from competition, he’s been traveling the world and performing.
“A feeling of being included, a feeling of safety, a safe space where you can be your true self is something universal that all humans want to have and feel,” said Radford, who has recently become a mentor for Compete Proud, a diversity, equity and inclusion digital sports platform. “Because of the history of LGBT people and having to fight against homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and all kinds of phobias, [Pride House is] a signal of change. It’s a signal of how far we’ve come as a movement. It’s always nice to see it in the athletic sphere.”
Each sport has its own unique timeline of development when it comes to inclusion, openness and progress, Radford noted. While figure skating may be ahead of some other winter sports, there are still struggles. Radford did not publicly come out until after the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, due to an anti-LGBTQ environment in Russia, which hosted the Sochi Games. Competing as an out and proud man at his next two Olympics was liberating and joyful for him. Even if some athletes cannot make it to Pride House due to scheduling or logistics, knowing it exists, said Radford, provides confidence.
Pride House Milan is organized by Arcigay together with CIG Arcigay Milano and in collaboration with Pride Sport Milano. It is part of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympiad and is held under the patronage of the Municipality of Milan and the Embassy of Canada, with the support of the Council of Europe.
“The Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games represent an extraordinary opportunity to reaffirm that sport is, and must be, a space of inclusion, respect and equal dignity,” said Gabriele Piazzoni, Secretary General of Arcigay. “In this sense, the presence of the Pride House that Arcigay has envisioned and supported takes on an extremely important symbolic and political value: an open, visible, and welcoming place that strongly affirms that LGBTQIA+ people are a full part of the sporting community and of society.”
On Feb. 14, past Olympic figure skaters Radford, Javier Raya (founder and managing director of Compete Proud) and ice dancer Kaitlyn Weaver will be joined by 2026 Olympians Paul Poirier and Lewis Gibson as well as athletes from other sports for the panel discussion Out & Proud: Athletes living authentically on and off the field.
“I’ll be speaking to my experience, telling my story and my observations of how things have changed and developed, and, of course, need to continue to change and develop,” Radford said.
In an interesting development, two of the stars of the TV series “Heated Rivalry,” which centers on a romance between two closeted hockey players, carried the Olympic torch in Italy last week as part of the Milan Cortina 2026 torch relay.
“A big part of this is creating community,” said Radford. “A big part of the Olympics is in between practices and competitions, where is a good space that you can go and relax, decompress and refocus, and feel supported and safe.”
For information about events, go to https://www.milanopride.it/pride-house-2026/. Updates will also be on Instagram @pridehouse.milano2026.