Print Barack Obama named openly gay athlet to the legatn that will reprent the U.S. next year at openg and closg ceremoni for the Wter Olympics Sochi, sendg a clear signal to Rsia about s treatment of gays and lbians.
Contents:
- HOW SOCHI BEME THE GAY OLYMPICS
- WH ONLY 7 OPENLY GAY ATHLET SOCHI, THOSE CLOSET ARE ON THE WRONG SI OF HISTORY
- THE ARE THE 6 OPENLY GAY ATHLET PETG AT THE SOCHI OLYMPICS
- SOCHI 2014: GAY RIGHTS PROTTS TARGET RSIA'S GAM
- OLYMPIC ANTI-DISCRIMATN CLSE TRODUCED AFTER SOCHI GAY RIGHTS ROW
- OBAMA SELECTS GAY ATHLET FOR SOCHI OLYMPIC LEGATN
- GAY ATHLET TO REPRENT U.S.
- SOCHI OLYMPICS: GAY ATHLET TO JO US LEGATN
- SOCHI OLYMPICS: RSIA SAYS NO DISCRIMATN FOR GAY ATHLET
- AS GAY ATHLET PREPARE TO TAKE A STAND IN SOCHI, THE QUTN IS HOW TO DO IT
- HOW WILL NBC COVER GAY ISSU DURG SOCHI OLYMPICS?
- BRIAN BOANO SAYS HE'S GAY
- LET'S TAKE THE GAY TO SOCHI FOR THE WTER OLYMPICS
HOW SOCHI BEME THE GAY OLYMPICS
Gay rights activists across the world prott agast the Rsian ernment, as Sochi awas the arrival of the Olympic torch. * sochi olympics gay athletes *
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.
WH ONLY 7 OPENLY GAY ATHLET SOCHI, THOSE CLOSET ARE ON THE WRONG SI OF HISTORY
As Rsia gears up to host the 2014 Wter Olympics Sochi, has also ramped up anti-gay laws, generatg ternatnal prott. WASHINGTON -- Print Barack Obama named openly gay athlet to the legatn that will reprent the U.S. next year at openg and closg ceremoni for the Wter Olympics Sochi, sendg a clear signal to Rsia about s treatment of gays and lbians. Tennis champn Billie Jean Kg will jo the U.S. legatn * sochi olympics gay athletes *
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.
THE ARE THE 6 OPENLY GAY ATHLET PETG AT THE SOCHI OLYMPICS
* sochi olympics gay athletes *
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. 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.
SOCHI 2014: GAY RIGHTS PROTTS TARGET RSIA'S GAM
The US clus two openly gay sports stars s official Sochi Olympics legatn, a move seen as a challenge to Rsia's anti-gay laws. * sochi olympics gay athletes *
” 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.
OLYMPIC ANTI-DISCRIMATN CLSE TRODUCED AFTER SOCHI GAY RIGHTS ROW
Rsian officials say gay athlet will not face discrimatn the Sochi wter Olympic gam, spe a ntroversial new law on gay propaganda. * sochi olympics gay athletes *
”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. 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.
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.
OBAMA SELECTS GAY ATHLET FOR SOCHI OLYMPIC LEGATN
Gay athlet and their supporters are preparg to take a stand agast Rsian laws margalizg homosexuals durg Febary's Olympics Sochi. What will they do? And what will be allowed? * sochi olympics gay athletes *
” 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. There would have been one openly gay man petg Sochi — New Zealand short track speed skater Blake Skjellep — but he missed qualifyg by one slotAfter reviewg a list like this, you have to wonr whether there is any good reason for anyone to be the closet anymore. If the first steps toward GLBT rights and acceptance the sports world were taken s ago by pneers like Billie Jean Kg and Marta Navratilova, both of whom me out ahead of their time, there will certaly be gay athlet Sochi about which uld now be said that they are behd their time.
Instead of seeg the upsis of a supportive muny, or the fort of followg the exampl of Colls, Rogers, and Daley (all of whom have more at stake, fancial terms, than Wter Olympic athlet, and who all had posive experienc g out), or the power of embracg the eedom to be themselv, today’s gay Olympians see only a hypothetilly homophobic skatg judge or some media attentn that might slow them down a actn of a send.
Foreigners n be July 2013, Rsia ma illegal for foreign gay and lbian upl to adopt Rsian children, and October 2013, the ernment proposed legislatn that would remove Rsian children om their LGBT parents.
GAY ATHLET TO REPRENT U.S.
Mastream Rsian media outlets don't ver gay issu ntrally — let alone posively. So, as the natn gears up to host the Wter Olympics, activists are llg on Wtern media to shed light on the plight of gay Rsians. That puts NBC the awkward posn, as both a journalistic enterprise and a bs partner of the Olympic Gam. * sochi olympics gay athletes *
Rsian activists note that the measur strengthen homophobia a untry where 74 percent of people already believe that homosexualy is new laws, says Human Rights Watch, have also fueled vic attacks agast LGBT dividuals, cludg beatgs, kidnappgs, torture and murr. Or watch this documentary, "Hunted, " by vtigative journalist Liz here’s the rabow lg: Sochi has also provid a highly visible fom for ternatnal prott and prsure rponse to Rsia’s anti-gay laws.
SOCHI OLYMPICS: GAY ATHLET TO JO US LEGATN
Olympic figure skatg champn Brian Boano me out Thursday, two days after he was named to the U.S. legatn for Sochi along wh openly gay athlet Billie Jean Kg and Cal Cahow. * sochi olympics gay athletes *
For example, some 50 Olympic athlet — pl 406, 000 other people around the globe — have petned the Rsian ernment to "elimate all anti-gay laws and protect all cizens om vlence and discrimatn Rsia.
SOCHI OLYMPICS: RSIA SAYS NO DISCRIMATN FOR GAY ATHLET
(Kirill Kudryavtsev/Getty Imag)While Internatnal Olympics Commtee member Dick Pound (no, really) has downplayed the harshns of the untry's “antigay stuff, ” European Unn Commissner Viviane Redg nfirmed that she'll boytt the Gam bee of Rsia's treatment of mori. Instead, he'll be sendg the largt and most openly gay legatn Olympics rponse to the ternatnal outcry, Rsian Print Vladimir Put awkwardly backpedaled to a pedophilia parison.
” Sochi’s mayor then claimed there are no gay people Sochi, leadg to some entertag fact-checkg by the Olympics are a time to celebrate world-class feats of athleticism, flamboyant displays of natnalism and maybe some spanx-clad buns.
AS GAY ATHLET PREPARE TO TAKE A STAND IN SOCHI, THE QUTN IS HOW TO DO IT
She told the Globe and Mail she was “so proud to be gay” and wanted to speak out agast Rsia’s anti-gay laws: “I uld never promote that msage of ncealg who you are wh all of this gog on Rsia.
HOW WILL NBC COVER GAY ISSU DURG SOCHI OLYMPICS?
” The 50-year-old figure skatg legend, who won gold at the 1988 Wter Olympics, jos two other openly gay athlet on the legatn — tennis champn Billie Jean Kg (39 Grand Slam tl) and Olympic ice hockey player Cal Cahow (bronze medal the 2006 Toro Gam).
BRIAN BOANO SAYS HE'S GAY
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.
LET'S TAKE THE GAY TO SOCHI FOR THE WTER OLYMPICS
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. "All we are sayg is that we n't jt ignore the fact that this is happeng Rsia where the anti-gay laws are preventg the Olympic valu beg lived and enjoyed by lns of people. "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.