Tom Daley And Husband Welcome Second Child, Online Trolls Spew Hate
Image: Tom Daley and his husband Dustin Lance Black with their children. Image: Instagram
British Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley and his husband Oscar-Winning Screenwriter and filmmaker Dustin Lance Black announced the birth of their second child on Thursday.
Trigger Warning: This story discusses anti-LGBTQI comments, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.
While many congratulated the family for the new addition, some social media users including failed Liberal Warringah candidate Katherine Deves, targeted the couple with anti-LGBTQI comments.
Daley is the winner of a gold medal for men’s synchronised 10-metre platform diving and a bronze medal in the men’s individual 10-metre platform diving at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Daley married Black in 2017 and the couple adopted their first child in 2018.
‘Our Family Has Grown’
On Thursday, Daley announced the birth of their second child Phoenix Rose Black-Daley on March 28, 2023.
“Our family has grown in the last week, we welcomed Phoenix to the world,” Daley said in a post on Instagram. “He’s just perfect”. Daley added that their first child Robbie was “loving being Big Bro!”
“And then there were four,” Black posted on his Instagram account, with a heartwarming photo of the family.
Among those who congratulated the couple were Chasten Buttigieg, husband of US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Anti-LGBTQI Comments
The social media posts also attracted anti-LGBTQI hate messages. “Hope you let them kids meet their mother, cause they deserve that. Those kids deserve to know what it took to make them. News flash it wasn’t you 2 guys,” one person commented.
Failed Liberal Warringah candidate Deves, who was recently seen at British anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen’s rally in Melbourne that was attended by neo-Nazis, also posted about the couple’s announcement.
“Do you reckon they asked one of their “transwomen” friends to be the “gestational carrier”? Despite being promoters of gender ideology, I bet these men know exactly which type of human needed to purchase an egg & rent their body for 9 months,” Deves tweeted.
NO LGB Without T
This Christmas Day, join @TomDaley1994 at 5pm for an alternative Christmas message on Channel 4 🎄🧵❤️ #AltXmas pic.twitter.com/QithPoVZe2
— Channel 4 (@Channel4) December 21, 2021
Daley has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQI rights. Last year, at the Commonwealth Games, he protested homophobia in sports and turned the spotlight on 35 Commonwealth countries where it was illegal to be LGBTQI.
Daley commended the out trans athletes who had competed in the Olympics. “The fact that they achieved this in the current climate of fear and panic around trans people, makes their achievements all the more impressive. There is no LGB with the T,” Daley said in his message.
Congratulations Tom & Dustin. Your kids are just so incredibly lucky to have you as their parents.