--- description: The move comes after the much criticized Sochi games, which took place against a backdrop of Russia's staunchly homophobic policies title: Olympic Committee to Ask Host Cities to Pledge Not to Discriminate image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7cfd58e3c53d947/6986a55c35ba6f089ec04066/rtx187wh.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LGBT](/tag/lgbt/) ## LGBT Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Olympic Committee Adds Anti-Discrimination Clause for Host Cities by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 25, 2014 1:48 AM CUT  Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 126th IOC session in Sochi, February 4, 2014\. Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games from February 7 to February 23\. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard (RUSSIA - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS) - RTX187WH Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 126th IOC session in Sochi, February 4, 2014\. Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games from February 7 to February 23\. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard (RUSSIA - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS) - RTX187WHEric Gaillard—Reuters by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 25, 2014 1:48 AM CUT The International Olympic Committee announced on Wednesday that they will add an anti-discrimination clause to host city contracts. So in order to host the 2022 Olympic Games, cities must pledge to adhere to a principle of the Olympic charter which prohibits discrimination. The move is a result of the pushback the IOC faced from human rights organizations following the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, where homophobic policies and incidents were rampant. The updated clause calls for the prohibition of “any form of discrimination,” under the rules of Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter, which bans “any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise.” LGBT rights organizations All Out and Athlete Ally [championed the Principle](http://www.principle6.org/ "undefined") in an effort to get athletes and fans to speak out against the anti-LGBT laws in Russia. Organizations like Human Rights Watch also urged the IOC to add a human rights provision to its host city contract for future games. Co-founder and executive director of All Out, Andre Banks, called the IOC’s announcement a “significant step in ensuring the protection of both citizens and athletes around the world.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3427596/olympic-committee-host-discrimination/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3427596/olympic-committee-host-discrimination/"},"headline":"Olympic Committee Adds Anti-Discrimination Clause for Host Cities","datePublished":"2014-09-25T01:48:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:24:03.039Z","description":"The move comes after the much criticized Sochi games, which took place against a backdrop of Russia's staunchly homophobic policies","url":"https://time.com/3427596/olympic-committee-host-discrimination/","keywords":["LGBT","Sports topic","olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7cfd58e3c53d947/6986a55c35ba6f089ec04066/rtx187wh.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7cfd58e3c53d947/6986a55c35ba6f089ec04066/rtx187wh.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 126th IOC session in Sochi,","caption":"Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 126th IOC session in Sochi,","creditText":"Eric Gaillard—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/lgbt/","name":"LGBT"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3427596/olympic-committee-host-discrimination/","name":"Olympic Committee Adds Anti-Discrimination Clause for Host Cities"}}]}] ```