"We had the pride house at the Olympics in 2010, and heard through media reports about Sochi's attitude toward human rights for LGBTQ athletes, spectators and members of the media," she said. "We felt very strongly that we needed to use whatever international sporting event capital we had built up as a host city to go to Sochi. We sent our deputy mayor at the time, an openly gay councillor who went and really asserted the need to make sure that LGBTQ athletes weren't just safe, but actively welcomed to the games and celebrated for who they were."