Tom Daley and husband Dustin Lance Black slam 'homophobic' Donald Trump and say he will influence America's children to be anti-gay

Diver hit out at Donald Trump as he discussed attitudes towards homosexuality
Also revealed the challenges of long distance relationship with his husband
He revealed that his relationship with Dustin Lance Black 'is far from perfect'
Daley and Black were speaking to mark 50 years of homosexuality being legal

Published: 00:14 GMT, 4 December 2017 | Updated: 02:20 GMT, 4 December 2017

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Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black (left) has slammed US President Donald Trump as 'homophobic'

Tom Daley has slammed US President Donald Trump as 'homophobic' and claims his discriminatory attitude could influence the nation's younger population.

Speaking to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK, Daley and his Oscar-winning director husband, Dustin Lance Black, spoke about the past and future of their relationship.

Olympic diver Daley, 23, was not out when he met his future husband in 2013, but the couple have now been married more than six months, after tying the knot in May.

In between there has been a secret split, cheating scandals but the couple feel like they are in a good place to move forward in their relationship.

However, the couple feel that some of the progressions made towards acceptance of the LGBTQ Community will be undermined by the words and actions of the US President, who has already tried to block transgender troops in the armed forces.

Daley told Attitude: “Even if you've just got four years of Trump, if you're eight years old and you have that between the ages of eight and 12, you're hearing someone that is homophobic, someone that is against every kind of diversity and not for equality at all.

'If you're hearing that for four years, they're going to grow up being racist homophobic and have those same values and then that's going to be passed down to the people that are two years younger.'

The US President has already tried to block transgender troops in the armed forces

Mr Black, 43, added: 'I think it's critical to remember that there are places in this world where LGBT+ people are being put to death for who they are, they're being imprisoned for who they are, and we're in a moment where without American leadership on this issue, because that's gone, without countries saying, "Hey we’d better not hurt our LGBT+ brothers and sisters because America will get mad at us and our hurt our bottom line", without that, leaders around the world are taking advantage of this vacuum of influence coming from the United States.'

The couple admitted some of the 'dramatic' changes to their relationship after struggling to cope with the distance of Black being based in LA.

'Our relationship is far from perfect', Daley told Attitude.

'We have really tough times and struggles. For example we went long distance for a very, very, long time: he was in LA, I was living in London.

'We would spend sometimes five weeks apart. And it's something that was really, really tough and we've had to make massive and dramatic changes in our lives in order to be able to live together and see each other all the time.

'So it's not all plain sailing.'

'I don't care if someone says something negative about us. Why would I? That's their business. I don't think there's any one way to be is an LGBTQ person.

'I don't want to be heteronormative in every way either; gay people are unique and different. That's fabulous.

'We wanted to get married and that's who we are. But don't be like us, go do your thing, be you, be wild, be as LGBTQ with all of the diversity you can think of, do your thing. I am not about blending in. My heroes are not about blending in.'

The couple's 20-year age gap has been questioned in some corners, but Mr Black says the pair have vowed to let other people's opinions get in the way of their own relationship.

The 43-year-old said: 'I don't care if someone says something negative about us. Why would I? That's their business. I don't think there's any one way to be is an LGBTQ person.

'I don't want to be heteronormative in every way either; gay people are unique and different. That's fabulous.

The couple have now been married more than six months, after tying the knot in May (pictured)

Speaking about the first time they ever met, four years ago, Daley revealed he had to be sneaky because he had not publicly declared he was gay.

I kept getting caught looking at him because obviously I wasn't really out then, he said.

'And I didn't really expect to have this moment that I did with Lance, but the way that I got around it was talking about the goings on inside the Olympic Village and how it would make a pretty cool film.

'And we traded contact details at the end of the night. I put my number in his phone with the winky face.'