The owner of Sochi's only gay nightclub tells TIME he received preferential treatment om the cy's mayor the n-up to the Olympic Gam. But will the LGBT muny enjoy the same protectns when the world is no longer watchg?
Contents:
- EXCLIVE: SOCHI'S GAYS HAD PROTECTN FROM THE MAYOR WHO CLAIMED THEY DON'T EXIST
- MOSW: GAY MOSW
- SOCHI GAY SCENE THRIVG
- TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON’T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER’S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT
- TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON'T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER'S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT
EXCLIVE: SOCHI'S GAYS HAD PROTECTN FROM THE MAYOR WHO CLAIMED THEY DON'T EXIST
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LGBTQIA+ advot ntually seek to promote the visibily and awarens of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex and queer issu and to support muni the pursu of unequivol rights. Acrdg to recent studi by reputable anizatns such as GLAAD (Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn), visibily of posive LGBTQ+ reprentatn posively impacts society by rcg stigma and creasg acceptance. In early January, about a month before the Wter Olympics Sochi began, Andrei Tanichev, the owner of the cy’s only gay night club, got a ll om the lol ernment summong him to a meetg wh the mayor.
And although Tanichev is a bsman, not an activist, Rsia’s new law agast homosexual “propaganda” among mors had thst his baret to a legal grey zone. What he got was a supportg role Rsia’s gay Potemk village.
While gay rights activists other parts of Rsia have ntued to face urt appearanc and f even durg the Olympic Gam, the gay muny Sochi has been put unr the state’s protectn, at least while the ey of the world are watchg. In his office that day January, Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov, the Kreml’s pla-spoken Olympic enforcer, weled his gut wh a se.
MOSW: GAY MOSW
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It was a lot like the plat Pakhomov had faced April durg a town hall meetg of his nstuents, who were up arms over the fellg of tre to make way for Olympic s. “Anybody who don’t like , ” Pakhomov yelled at that packed dorium, “had better lm themselv down or move away.
” That seems to have been the mayor’s approach to the issue of gays his cy. Durg an terview wh the BBC December, he said he was not aware of any homosexuals livg Sochi at all, although he later sisted that he was only talkg about an absence of gay activists. Sce early January, Pakhomov has cled numero wrten requts for an terview wh TIME, cg his by Olympic schle.
SOCHI GAY SCENE THRIVG
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Reporters om all over the world have bee a fixture at Mayak recent months, all eager to ver the impact of Rsia’s anti-gay legislatn. His msage, which reporters have asked him to repeat on a nightly basis for months, is that gay rights are dog jt fe Sochi, which had a thrivg gay muny even Soviet tim, when sodomy was technilly agast the law.
They’ve never alt wh gay issu before. In his most recent remarks on the subject last month, Print Vladimir Put said that homosexuals “should feel relaxed and lm” Sochi durg the Olympics. But the same breath, he seemed to suggt that foreign gays were out to prey on Rsian kids.
TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON’T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER’S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT
"Mayak," which means “lighthoe” Rsian, is a gay nightclub loted the southern Rsian cy of Sochi. The Black Sea rort town was a gay hub durg the Soviet era due to s remote lotn and reputatn of beg very multatnal. The club’s owner, Andrei Tenichev, opened "Mayak" eight years ago after workg at a gay bar Mosw. He says Sochi provis a better climate for this type of bs pared to Mosw and expects operatn wh the lol ernment durg the Wter Olympics Febary. A Rsian law banng "homosexual propaganda" has threatened to overshadow the gam as ntu to provoke an ternatnal outcry. (8 PHOTOS) * gay peace tea can *
” So is no surprise that the headl the wtern prs have recently pated the cy of Sochi, and particular the Mayak night club, as a livg rebe to Put’s anti-gay legislatn. 31, a week before the Wter Olympics began, thori the Ural Mountas cy of Nizhny Tagil, part of Rsia’s dtrial heartland, ed the gay propaganda law to shut down the only anizatn the untry that uncils gay teenagers through the procs of g out.
TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON'T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER'S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT
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The asslt, which her parents believed would “cure” her of homosexualy, rulted pregnancy, the woman wrote, but police have ignored her attempts to file charg. In an email to TIME, she wrote that the law beg ed to prosecute her “has directly given ee re to many homophob.
It officially clar that gays and lbians are ferr begs… That tly amounts to fascism. ” And as far as she’s ncerned, there is not much fort the fact that gay clubs are allowed to operate eely some Rsian ci. “Any gay club amounts to a ghetto, ” Klimova says.
“And don’t at all mean that gays Rsia have good.