U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon said he would boycott a visit to the White House.
Rippon — the first openly gay athlete selected to a U.S. Winter Olympic team — told the Daily Mail that he would not go to the White House in an effort “to support my community.”
“No, I have no desire to go to the White House,” he told the Daily Mail.
“But I would like to do something to help my community.”
{mosads}Rippon added he would want to do “something positive and not just stay at home” during the White House visit, such as planning his own event in support of gay rights.
Rippon also told the publication that he has always spoken his mind and has always spoken from the heart.
“I have a great story. I want people to get to know me, but today it is about this about awesome group of people,” he said.
Rippon was repeating his stance from last month, when he said wouldn’t visit the White House if invited as an Olympian because he doesn’t think he’d be “welcome” as a gay athlete.
He said at the time that he doesn’t think somebody like him would be “welcome there,” adding that he knows what it’s like to “go into a room and feel like you’re not wanted there.”
Olympians are typically invited to the White House for a reception.
USA Today reported earlier this month that Rippon refused a meeting with Vice President Pence after the vice president’s staff reached out to the figure skater following his criticism of Pence.
Rippon’s mother earlier this month defended her son’s interaction’s with Pence amid controversy.
Kelly Rippon said her son didn’t “refuse” to meet with Pence, but that he prefers not to do so before the competition.
Adam Rippon on Sunday helped Team USA take home a bronze medal in the team figure skating event.
Last month, Rippon said last month he disagreed with the Trump administration’s values. He added that Pence “doesn’t really stand for anything I believe in,” asserting that the vice president supported “gay conversion therapy.”
Pence’s office has denied he believes in “gay conversion therapy.”
Pence has long been seen as a top adversary to LGBTQ rights.