Why Rsia's Sochi Olympics are now a battleground for gay rights | CNN

Contents:

• HOW SOCHI BEME THE GAY OLYMPICS
• SOCHI 2014: GAY RIGHTS PROTTS TARGET RSIA'S GAM
• OLYMPIC ANTI-DISCRIMATN CLSE TRODUCED AFTER SOCHI GAY RIGHTS ROW
• RSIA, GAY RIGHTS, AND THE SOCHI OLYMPICS
• HOW THE INTERNATNAL LGBTQ RIGHTS MOVEMENT FAILED RSIAN GAYS SOCHI
• SOCHI 2014 OLYMPICS UNSAFE FOR LGBT COMMUNY UNR RSIA’S ANTI-GAY LAW, ACTIVISTS WARN
• DPE RISKS, SOCHI ATHLET DETERMED TO PROTT RSIAN ANTIGAY LAW
• WHY RSIA’S SOCHI OLYMPICS ARE NOW A BATTLEGROUND FOR GAY RIGHTS
• HOW WILL NBC COVER GAY ISSU DURG SOCHI OLYMPICS?

HOW SOCHI BEME THE GAY OLYMPICS

The Stonewall rts were more than a the past; a year earlier, reports had surfaced about rare pnmonia and ncer afflictg homosexuals New York and California—the first glimmers of what would later be lled AIDS. ” “Direct ntact” wh athlet om the natns, Day argued, would be enlighteng for Amerins livg a untry where ternatnal visors were often nied entry bee of their sexual s later, sports are once aga stirrg to take stock of gay rights around the world. Ultimately, the stlit Olympics history may be remembered for markg a perd which gay rights aren’t so much advancg globally as expandg certa parts of the world while regrsg or languishg 6, 000 athlet om 85 untri gather Sochi, the global gay-rights divi will be unmistakable.

SOCHI 2014: GAY RIGHTS PROTTS TARGET RSIA'S GAM

But gay rights only me to the fore the summer of 2013, when the Rsian ernment, which crimalized homosexualy 1993, banned the dissematn of “propaganda of nontradnal sexual relatns” around children—makg more difficult for gay activists to operate and, rights groups allege, fuelg a rise anti-gay vlence the untry. Put has sce clared that gays attendg the Olympics should feel "at ease” (so long as they “leave the children peace”), but that’s done ltle to prevent Sochi om beg a battleground for gay rights. The mayor of Sochi sayg there were no gay people his cy didn’t help, perhaps the most provotive rebe to Rsia’s lims on LGBT rights, Print Obama has clud three openly gay athlet—Billie Jean Kg, Cal Cahow, and Brian Boano— the U.

OLYMPIC ANTI-DISCRIMATN CLSE TRODUCED AFTER SOCHI GAY RIGHTS ROW

Gay Olympic athlet have exprsed outrage as well; the Atralian snowboarr Belle Brockhoff, for stance, has vowed to “rip on [Put’s] ass” after petg and possibly flash an oblique six-fger salute reference to “Prciple Six, ” an anti-discrimatn clse the Olympic Charter. Then there’s the solutn proposed by Saturday Night Live: an all-heterosexual Team USA figure-skatg squad:The laws agast homosexualy that have recently ma ternatnal headl aren’t necsarily new, Stern says, but they are “gettg more attentn today bee of the level of progrs that we’ve seen other parts of the world. In recent months, India’s Supreme Court has restated a ban on gay sex ( one fell swoop doublg, by one timate, the number of gay people the world who n be imprisoned for their sexualy) and Atralia’s High Court has overturned gay-marriage legislatn.

In Uganda, Print Yoweri Meveni has exprsed opposn to a proposed bill metg out life imprisonment for gays—only to characterize homosexualy as an “abnormaly” and lbianism as a product of “sexual starvatn. ” We know the story Rsia, where Vladimir Put has anoted himself the lear of an ternatnal nservative unteroffensive agast the Wt’s “genrls and fertile” the Bssels-based Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) noted s latt report on “state-sponsored homophobia, ” “ltle has changed the proportn between untri crimalizg same-sex sexual acts between nsentg adults and those which do not, i.

RSIA, GAY RIGHTS, AND THE SOCHI OLYMPICS

”The “current divisn of the world—om the pot of view of legislatn—to an LGBTI-iendly field and an LGBTI-uniendly field is the rult of different cultural, social and polil procs rooted the histori of the untri and the history of their relatns wh one another, ” the study ’s how that divid world looked as of May 2013, when ILGA me out wh s report (click on the map to expand):ILGAIn a June report tled “The Global Divi on Homosexualy, ” the Pew Rearch Center arrived at siar nclns, fdg “broad acceptance of homosexualy North Ameri, the European Unn, and much of Lat Ameri, but equally wispread rejectn predomantly Mlim natns and Ai, as well as parts of Asia and Rsia.

HOW THE INTERNATNAL LGBTQ RIGHTS MOVEMENT FAILED RSIAN GAYS SOCHI

S., where public support has grown signifintly, and that “acceptance of homosexualy is particularly wispread untri where relign is ls central people’s liv”—natns that also tend to be the wealthit the world.

SOCHI 2014 OLYMPICS UNSAFE FOR LGBT COMMUNY UNR RSIA’S ANTI-GAY LAW, ACTIVISTS WARN

Exceptns clu Rsia and Cha, where levels of religsy and tolerance for homosexualy are both Rearch CenterHere are the percentag of rponnts the 39 untri Pew surveyed who said society should accept homosexualy. Except South Ai, where gay marriage is legal but only 32 percent accept homosexualy, same-sex marriage has, not surprisgly, advanced the most untri where support of homosexualy is Rearch CenterRelign undoubtedly rms opns on LGBT rights—a dynamic rerced by the recent trend of globetrottg Amerin evangelils, stymied at home, craftg and promotg rtrictns on homosexualy foreign pals—but ’s not the only factor at play.

Vladimir Put, ILGA Executive Director Renato Sabbadi argu, se anti-gay legislatn as a means of platg the powerful Rsian Orthodox Church and fendg ‘tradnal valu’ opposn to the Wt, where LGBT rights are generally advancg.

Stern pots to the Kampala-based Civil Society Coaln on Human Rights and Constutnal Law’s outspoken opposn to Uganda’s anti-gay bill, while Sabbadi c how Indian gay-rights activists swiftly mobilized to prott the rtoratn of the untry’s ban on homosexual acts. ” In Brazil, for example, same-sex marriage is legal, but more transgenr people are murred than anywhere else the also tak issue wh the notn that Sochi is simply a dramatizatn of today's global gay-rights divi.

DPE RISKS, SOCHI ATHLET DETERMED TO PROTT RSIAN ANTIGAY LAW

Media ptn, Watch: The torch arriv Sochi, where will spend three days ahead of the openg ceremonyGay rights activists across the world have been holdg a day of protts agast the Rsian ernment, jt two days before the Wter Olympics beg the southern rort of protts seek to persua sponsors of the event to speak out over Rsia's ntroversial laws on gay rights protts were anised 19 ci around the Olympic torch has arrived Sochi, havg vised 135 ci the 122 days sce leavg will spend three days and around Sochi before arrivg the Olympic stadium to light the Olympic uldron durg Friday's openg ceremony.

Activists want Olympic sponsors such as McDonald's, Co-Cola, Samsung and Visa to speak agast Rsia's new laws on ptn, Protters Jesalem chant: "No exc, homophobia is terror"Last year, Rsia banned the promotn of "non-tradnal" sexualy - wily seen as an attack on gay law mak providg rmatn on homosexualy to unr-18s a crime, punishable by a fe. Crics say s loose terpretatn effectively stops gay rights protts Campbell, a director at the equaly mpaign group All Out, told the BBC that the new Rsian laws went agast the spir of the Olympics.

"Image source, PAImage ptn, TV prenter Pl O'Grady and polil mpaigner Peter Tatchell took part the rally central LondonImage source, RtersImage ptn, Protters Madrid held up sheets of rd the lours of the Olympics rgsIn a rporate blog post, AT&T nmned Rsia's stance, sayg stood "agast Rsia's anti-LGBT [lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr] law" telemunitns giant is not an IOC sponsor but do sponsor the US Olympic month, Print Vladimir Put said homosexuals would be wele Sochi for the Olympics but add: "Jt leave the children peace. In June 2013, jt months before the openg ceremony of the Sochi Olympics, Rsian Print Vladimir Put signed what beme known as the “gay propaganda law, ” argug that “nontradnal sexual relatns” were a danger to children, the fay and society. The well-found fear of activists Rsia was that the law would not only rtrict eedom of exprsn, but would send a msage that the ernment ndoned homophobia, leavg gay people vulnerable to vlence and abe.

WHY RSIA’S SOCHI OLYMPICS ARE NOW A BATTLEGROUND FOR GAY RIGHTS

The four years sce Sochi have been marked by discrimatn and btal anti-gay vlence, and while the foc of the ternatnal media has long ago moved on, Put’s “tradnal valu” ntue to do immeasurable damage.

For the Kreml the law was classic polil homophobia – a way of nsolidatg their nservative support base Rsia and, ternatnally, to fe an anti-Wtern alliance unr the bric of “tradnal valu. Ramzan Kadyrov, who has been lg Chechnya through btal reprsn wh the Kreml’s blsg, fluctuated between nyg there were any gay people Chechnya, and jtifyg the purge as a social cleansg rual.

HOW WILL NBC COVER GAY ISSU DURG SOCHI OLYMPICS?

One victim relled beg hled before male relativ: “[Officials] shout abe at you, ll you nam, the most offensive nam, and they orr you to step forward, adm to your relativ, adm that you’re gay. In 2017, the European Court of Human Rights nmned the “gay propaganda” law and orred the ernment to pay rtutn to three platiffs ― a cisn that Rsia is obligated by treaty to rpect ― but Rsian urts ntue to punish people unr the law.