As Gay Athlet Prepare To Take A Stand In Sochi, The Qutn Is How To Do It

Contents:

• HOW SOCHI BEME THE GAY OLYMPICS
• RSIA, GAY RIGHTS, AND THE SOCHI OLYMPICS
• SOCHI 2014: GAY RIGHTS PROTTS TARGET RSIA'S GAM
• AS GAY ATHLET PREPARE TO TAKE A STAND IN SOCHI, THE QUTN IS HOW TO DO IT
• WH ONLY 7 OPENLY GAY ATHLET SOCHI, THOSE CLOSET ARE ON THE WRONG SI OF HISTORY
• OLYMPIC ANTI-DISCRIMATN CLSE TRODUCED AFTER SOCHI GAY RIGHTS ROW
• G KENWORTHY, WORLD CHAMPN SKIER, COM OUT AS GAY
• SOCHI OLYMPICS: RSIA SAYS NO DISCRIMATN FOR GAY ATHLET
• SOCHI OLYMPICS: GAY ATHLET TO JO US LEGATN
• LIFE GO ON FOR SOCHI’S GAY MUNY, SPE 2014 WTER OLYMPICS
• HOW THE INTERNATNAL LGBTQ RIGHTS MOVEMENT FAILED RSIAN GAYS SOCHI
• WHY RSIA’S SOCHI OLYMPICS ARE NOW A BATTLEGROUND FOR GAY RIGHTS
• HOW WILL NBC COVER GAY ISSU DURG SOCHI OLYMPICS?
• THE ARE THE 6 OPENLY GAY ATHLET PETG AT THE SOCHI OLYMPICS
• OBAMA SELECTS GAY ATHLET FOR SOCHI OLYMPIC LEGATN
• GAY ATHLET TO REPRENT U.S.

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.

RSIA, GAY RIGHTS, AND THE SOCHI OLYMPICS

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 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.

SOCHI 2014: GAY RIGHTS PROTTS TARGET RSIA'S GAM

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. ”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.

AS GAY ATHLET PREPARE TO TAKE A STAND IN SOCHI, THE QUTN IS HOW TO DO IT

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. Compare that wh the Uned Stat the 1950s, where homosexual behavr was illegal much of the untry, but groups such as the Mattache Society (found 1950) and the Dghters of Bilis (1955) argued for tolerance. Much of what Put and his associat say about homosexualy, and ed much of their policy general, reflects a specific historil herage: a group of 19th-century thkers, the Slavophil, who argued that Rsia followed s own distct historil path.

WH ONLY 7 OPENLY GAY ATHLET SOCHI, THOSE CLOSET ARE ON THE WRONG SI OF HISTORY

In the Wt, the argument favor of same-sex marriage and more generally for a greater place for homosexualy society draws on two ias: that dividuals have the fundamental right to live their liv as they choose, and that homosexualy do no harm to others.

For Put’s ernment, by ntrast, the right of dividual choice well below the terts of society as a whole, and homosexualy is regard as unacceptably rrosive of tradnal valu, mographic trends, and the perceived safety of children.

Rsia’s law on homosexual propaganda is th bt unrstood as the rult of a way of thkg datg back to the neteenth century which puts a much smaller emphasis on dividual tonomy and a much greater emphasis on social solidary and the importance of tradn than Wtern society. Unrstandg the roots of the Rsian ernment’s polici, whether on homosexualy, adoptn, or still broar issu of polil dissent, will not end the very real disagreements between Put’s regime and many the Wt. 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.

OLYMPIC ANTI-DISCRIMATN CLSE TRODUCED AFTER SOCHI GAY RIGHTS ROW

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.

G KENWORTHY, WORLD CHAMPN SKIER, COM OUT AS GAY

Skjellep's stance is supported by Rsia's most proment gay-rights activist, Nikolai Alekseyev, who told RFE/RL he was ready to distribute ps om the first Mosw pri para 2006 to any terted athlet. Dmry Kiselev, the director of the leadg state-n TV channel Rossia 1, said of gays durg a recent program: "Their hearts, se of an tomobile accint, should be buried the ground or burned as unsuable for the ntuatn of life.

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.

SOCHI OLYMPICS: RSIA SAYS NO DISCRIMATN FOR GAY ATHLET

After the ntroversy that surround Rsia’s anti-gay laws before the Sochi 2014 Wter Gam, the Internatnal Olympic Commtee (IOC) has troduced a specific anti-discrimatn clse to s host cy a letter to prospective bidrs for the 2022 Wter Olympics rmg them of chang to the ntract, which acts as a bdg agreement between the IOC and the wner, director of sport Christophe Dubi said the new clse would be based on prciple 6 of the Olympic clse reads: “Any form of discrimatn wh regard to a untry or a person on grounds of race, relign, polics, genr or otherwise is patible wh belongg to the Olympic movement. ”In the letter, Dubi rms bidrs that “an exprs reference was clud to the prohibn of any form of discrimatn, g the wordg of fundamental prciple 6 of the Olympic charter” the eve of the Sochi Olympics, the Guardian revealed that more than 50 current and former Olympians – cludg 12 petg the 2014 Gam – had lled on the Rsian thori to rensir new laws that banned “gay propaganda” aimed at unr-18s and had led to a wave of homophobic of the 52 Olympians, wh dozens of medals between them and cludg 12 Sochi petors, also cricised the IOC and multatnal sponsors for not dog more to force Vladimir Put’s admistratn to sle back the legislatn.

SOCHI OLYMPICS: GAY ATHLET TO JO US LEGATN

“This is a signifint step ensurg the protectn of both cizens and athlet around the world and sends a clear msage to future host ci that human rights vlatns, cludg those agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people, will not be tolerated, ” said Andre Banks, -founr of All Out. Before the 2008 summer Gam, Beijg faced global protts over s human rights rerd durg the torch relay while Kazakhstan has been repeatedly cricised over human rights by move is likely to crease the prsure on Fifa to take a stand before the 2018 World Cup Rsia and the ntroversial 2022 tournament Qatar, where homosexualy is Guardian revealed June that Fifa, mired ntroversy over rptn claims surroundg the 2018 and 2022 biddg procs, was nsirg makg a untry’s human rights rerd a factor when cidg future World Cup hosts.

Image source, RtersImage ptn, The gam will be Rsia's most high-profile ternatnal sportg event yearsRsian officials say gay athlet petg next year's wter Olympics will not face discrimatn spe a ntroversial new law on gay propaganda, Rsian media ncerns were "pletely unfound", the terr mistry said, quoted by Interfax news agency.

LIFE GO ON FOR SOCHI’S GAY MUNY, SPE 2014 WTER OLYMPICS

Crics say s loose terpretatn effectively hrs any kd of public gay rights event mistry said that officials would act durg the gam - as at any other time - to protect children "om the propaganda of non-tradnal sexual relatns" add that there would be no issue wh "people who adhere to non-tradnal sexual orientatn but do not engage the activi, nor stage any provotns, and take part peacefully Olympic events together wh everyone else" mistry said ncerns over discrimatn towards gay athlet at the gam were "pletely unfound and unsubstantiated". Calls for the gam to be moved to another untry have e om gay rights mpaigners around the world, cludg Brish broadster Stephen Fry who last week wrote an open letter to Mr Rogge and IOC later told the BBC had received "assuranc om the hight level of ernment Rsia that the legislatn" would "not affect those attendg or takg part the gam".

Homosexualy was crimalised Rsia 1993 and ernment officials have sought to play down the possible impact of the bill - passed June - on the Sochi on this storyRelated Inter LksThe BBC is not rponsible for the ntent of external s.

HOW THE INTERNATNAL LGBTQ RIGHTS MOVEMENT FAILED RSIAN GAYS SOCHI

Image ptn, Billie Jean Kg said she was honoured to reprent the LGBT people at SochiThe US is sendg two openly gay sports stars to the Wter Olympics Sochi as part of s official move is beg seen as a challenge to new laws Rsia which ban "propaganda" about legend Billie Jean Kg and ice hockey player Cal Cahow will reprent the US at the openg and closg ceremoni and other events. But the Rsian law, which bans the promotn of "non-tradnal sexual relatns"- has raised qutns about what uld happen to athlet who wear ps or badg or rry flags supportg gay Whe Hoe said a statement that Mr Obama was "extremely proud of our US athlet and looks forward to cheerg them on om Washgton".

"I am equally proud to stand wh the members of the LGBT [lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr] muny support of all athlet who will be petg Sochi and I hope the Olympic Gam will ed be a watershed moment for the universal acceptance of all people, " she said. 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.

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

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. 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.

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. What an awome sight was, all those Olympians holdg hands wh teammat of the same genr, quiet but unmistakable fiance of Rsia’s anti-gay laws and the Internatnal Olympic Commtee’s stated ban on polil prott.

Last summer—about half a year before the Olympic Gam opened Sochi and soon after the Amerin gay rights tablishment beme aware of the Kreml’s unprecented mpaign of anti-gay hate—a number of people bated how the Wt, and the Uned Stat particular, should act durg the gam. Ined, ternatnal media attentn to the Kreml’s homophobic mpaign seems to have had a major chillg effect on Olympic athlet and spectators, who traveled to Sochi wh a set of largely unfound fears, which kept them om dog anythg at all. Speakg Friday Mosw, IOC Print Jacqu Rogge said the mtee had received a wrten assurance om the Rsian ernment that the anti-gay propaganda law would not be applied to visors to Sochi – but that “there are still uncertati” which need further clarifitn.

HOW WILL NBC COVER GAY ISSU DURG SOCHI OLYMPICS?

“It’s Stal who recrimalized male homosexualy about 80 years ago and that created a kd of atmosphere where first of all at least 26, 000 and probably more like 50, 000 gay men were arrted over the lifetime of that law – and lasted 60 years, ” he said.

THE ARE THE 6 OPENLY GAY ATHLET PETG AT THE SOCHI OLYMPICS

“Bee of the forced labor mps that 20 ln Rsians went through, a lot of people wnsed or experienced ercive same sex relatnships and that has had a kd of cumulative effect on people’s views of homosexualy, ” he said. While ’s too early really to asss the natnal impact of the anti-gay propaganda law, Healey said, the bate around has “mobilized and animated homophobic groups like skheads and vigilant who associate themselv wh Rsian Orthodoxy to actually vlently asslt and otherwise harm LGBT people physilly. By ntrast, the World Athletics Champnships, staged by the Internatnal Associatn of Athletics Feratns, start Saturday Mosw but have not attracted the same level of prott – spe IAAF print Lame Diack sayg Thursday that Rsia’s anti-gay laws are “no problem whatsoever.

“One of the thgs I’m really lookg forward to is maybe some gay and lbian athlet brgg home the gold or silver or bronze, which would, I thk, go a long way rejectg the kd of attus that we’re seeg there. “Every time Rsia (and is nstantly) a gay teenager is forced to suici, a lbian ‘rrectively’ raped, gay men and women beaten to ath by neo-Nazi thugs while the Rsian police stand idly by, the world is dimished and I for one, weep anew at seeg history repeat self.

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.

OBAMA SELECTS GAY ATHLET FOR SOCHI OLYMPIC LEGATN

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. 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. (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.

GAY ATHLET TO REPRENT U.S.

” 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. ” 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).