Olympic climber Campbell Harrison happy to carry weight of being an LGBTQI+ role model

It started with a kiss.

Climber Campbell Harrison had just achieved his lifetime goal of qualifying for the Paris Olympics when he leaned in to celebrate with boyfriend Justin.

Months later the photo was shared by the official social media account of the Olympic Games which has over 14 million followers.

"I accepted the tag, and didn't think anything of it," Harrison tells ABC Sport.

"Then I was getting all these messages being like, 'I've seen the comments, are you okay?'"

In a short period of time Harrison remembers "thousands" of comments coming in faster than they could be moderated, while his DMs were full of death threats and "some really vulgar stuff".

"At the time I thought I'd seen it all — like I've experienced homophobia, and there was nothing anyone could say to really make me feel scared," Harrison says.

"But the sheer volume did actually get to me."

In training for the World Cup the following day Harrison "broke down" in tears in the gym.

"It changed my view of the world a little bit," the 28-year-old says.

Harrison says the experience made him reflect on why LGBTQI+ visibility is so important.

"It's really easy to view pride parades and things like that as self-indulgent … but the world can be genuinely unsafe for queer people," he said.

"[Pride] is not just about going to work and being able to talk about your same-sex partner at home. It's [ensuring] that people don't feel, like, being queer makes you worthy of being abused, assaulted and murdered."

How climbing built an LGBTQI+ inclusive culture

As the first openly LGBTQI+ climber to compete in the Olympics, Harrison acknowledges that he carries the burden of being the first:

But for someone who grew up internalising the notion that to be gay was "bad" he recognises how important it is for others to have positive role models to look up to.

"I think if I had had examples of queer people growing up who were happy, successful and doing cool things like climbing internationally I might have had a better notion of what it was to be queer and might not have felt so much shame and stigma," he says.

Naturally athletic, Harrison was drawn to climbing because it seemed less heteronormative than more popular sports like Australian rules football.

While climbing is now widely considered LGBTQI+ friendly, at least in Harrison's inner-city Melbourne bubble, he says there "weren't a lot of queer people" in the sport when he started.

Harrison credits groups like Climbing QTs — an LGBTQI+ social climbing group — with shifting that culture over the last two decades.

"I always compare climbing to a playground for grown-ups," Harrison says.

"You mess about and use your body to solve puzzles, and socially it's fairly low pressure. You can kind of dip in and out of being by yourself on the wall, and then migrate back into social circles.

"So I think it became a really, really good way for queer people to meet each other in an environment that didn't centre around drugs and alcohol."

As a "relatively fresh sport" Harrison argues this gives climbing an advantage when it comes to embedding diversity.

"We have this really good opportunity to build a culture from the ground up and be inclusive of queer identities from the get-go," he says.

'Grateful' to bisexual AFL player Mitch Brown

As one of a limited number of out gay men in elite Australian sport, Harrison is also "grateful" to those who have come out across other codes including, most recently, Mitch Brown, the first current or former AFL player to come out as bisexual.

"He's the first in a sport that has a chokehold on a huge part of the nation. [AFL] is so ingrained in our sporting identity, especially here in Victoria.

"I think for him to take that first step will be a catalyst for so many other people."

Perhaps most importantly Harrison argues Brown's coming out creates the opportunity for culture change in a traditionally conservative sport.

He gives the example of the former West Coast Eagle relaying a story about the hyper-masculine AFL change room environment where one of Brown's teammates once said they'd rather be in a cage full of lions than shower with a gay man.

"If you can clue straight people into those experiences maybe it gives more people the courage to speak out against it, which is really powerful."

Why second infamous kiss was not 'retaliation' for trolling

That's not to say Harrison has always felt liberated by his sexuality.

Arriving in Paris the trolling incident still weighed on him.

Some of those who had left negative comments on the infamous social media post were fellow athletes, including climbers, causing him "waves of anxiety".

Thankfully, Harrison received several shows of support, including a DM from retired Olympic diver and openly gay man Tom Daley.

Meanwhile in the Olympic village, where it is tradition to trade pins to stick on your lanyard, a volunteer gifted Harrison a rainbow flag.

Once it came time to compete Harrison did what most athletes are adept at and put the incident to the side.

He went on to finish 19th overall in the men's combined boulder and lead event before collapsing with emotion on the floor.

Just as he did when he qualified for the Olympics, he shared the moment — and a kiss — with boyfriend Justin.

The climbing community, who had clearly followed his story, erupted.

"The crowd just roared and clapped, it was really cheesy," he says.

Many of those in attendance — including media — assumed the kiss was in open defiance of the trolls.

"Honestly … that was not what was going through my mind," Harrison says.

"If you watch the video back I was in a puddle of my own tears.

"I was happy to stick it to them, but that was not what was going through my mind at the time. I was just feeling my feelings."

Harrison keen for 2032 Brisbane Olympics

Moving forward, Harrison hasn't given up on his Olympic dream.

There's Los Angeles 2028 to qualify for, and the tantalising prospect of a home Olympics in Brisbane in 2032.

By then Harrison will be in his mid-30s and hopes to be involved as either a coach or athlete.

He has naturally given thought to life beyond climbing, but realises he wants to stay involved in the sport that has given him so much.

This includes, crucially, being a visible role model for other queer people in climbing.

"A piece of advice I would give to young [queer] people is — surrounding yourself with other queer people is so important," Harrison says.

"I never realised what was missing in my life until I had other queer friends and that sense of camaraderie.

"It really does make a difference if you're surrounded by people who are proud of their sexuality because it's really hard to feel shameful on your own."

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