The morning news roundup about Russia’s crackdown on its gay and trans citizens, and the global backlash against the Sochi Olympics.
FIFA soccer body asks Russia to clarify anti-gay law.
The International Olympic Committee would prefer that gays remain closeted during the Olympics, or they may kick you out.
MSNBC: “Since Putin’s re-election in 2012, over 5,000 people have been arrested in more than 200 protests over anti-gay laws, according to figures from Amnesty International.”
You can always count on the self-loathing Log Cabin Republicans, who have been entirely absent from this entire controversy, to now say something idiotic after the rest of us just spent two weeks blowing the entire issue up in the media worldwide:
“People can dump out as many gallons of vodka in the streets as they want, but when it comes to achieving realistic change in Russia, we are at a time of strategizing right now,” said Gregory T. Angelo, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP-focused LGBT advocacy group. “Right now this is up to the State Department and the IOC. The State Department needs to present to the American public its plan to protect LGBT athletes, but the onus really needs to be on the IOC.
The vodka protest won’t work? Already has, Gregory. Or don’t they have newspapers over at the self-hating closet-club?
Canadian gold medalist says he’d sit out Olympics if that’s what the team decided.
Sister Cities are cutting ties with Russia.
US distance runner breaks Russian law by speaking out against anti-gay legislation in Moscow:
US middle distance runner Nick Symmonds dedicated his 800-meter silver medal at the world athletics championships Tuesday to his gay and lesbian friends back home, becoming the first athlete to openly criticize Russia’s controversial anti-gay law on the country’s soil.
“As much as I can speak out about it, I believe that all humans deserve equality as however God made them,” he told R-Sport after running a 1:43.55 at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. “Whether you’re gay, straight, black, white, we all deserve the same rights. If there’s anything I can do to champion the cause and further it, I will, shy of getting arrested.”
Voice of America on the anti-Russian backlash that’s been created by Russia’s gay-bashing.
Eight horrific stories of being gay in Russia.
Former US Olympian Johnny Weir is starting to make better statements about standing up to Russia’s anti-gay law.
Strike that. Johnny Weir is still an idiot:
“But people in the United States right now are focused so much on attacking Russia and they’re kind of losing the point of attacking this law as opposed to attacking Russia as a nation. For me as an athlete and somebody who has trained and lived and performed and loved Russia for so long, it’s heart breaking that my community is being so suppressed inside a country I love so much that I could be suppressed in a country I love so much and that this Olympics, this thing that we train every single day for, bleed, blood, sweat and tears, It could end in disaster for people like me that could be arrested simply for wearing the wrong costume.”
He almost gets it right, then has to screw it up. Yes, Johnny, we’re the ones losing the point, when you’ve been providing cover for these people for months with your false equivalencies. I’m sorry, I meant you’re providing cover for these laws – it’s not about the Russian people, who overwhelmingly support these laws and hate our/your guts.
Russia steps up raids against migrants, puts them in camps. But remember what Johnny Weir said, it’s just that one law, they’re really nice people otherwise.
TIME: Pressure builds on NBC for its Olympic coverage:
In other words, gay athletes and fans can be seen at the Olympics, just not heard. The law puts behavioral restrictions on a targeted group of people. It discriminates.
John Aravosis
@aravosis | Facebook | Google+. Editor of AMERICAblog, joint JD/MSFS from Georgetown, worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. A frequent TV pundit, he has been on The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Full bio and article archive.
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