Your AM Russian gay Olympic implosion update

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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BREAKING: Russia Interior Minister confirms Olympic athletes will be arrested at Sochi under anti-gay law

Home Gay BREAKING: Russia Interior Minister confirms Olympic athletes will be arrested at Sochi under anti-gay law

BREAKING: This just in, after I published this post. Russia’s Interior Minister has just confirmed that Russia will enforce its draconian new anti-gay/anti-trans law during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and that Russia will arrest Olympic athletes and guests who run afoul of the new law.  That means an Olympic athlete appearing in public with their same-sex spouse will be arrested.  It also means that an NBC reporter interviewing any athlete who does or says anything perceived as pro-gay – for example, mentioning their same-sex spouse or appearing in their home with that spouse – will be jailed.

And in answer to my post below, now we know why it took the Russians three weeks to get back to the International Olympic Committee.  The Russians never had any intent on promising to protect the safety of athletes and guests at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
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It’s been nearly three weeks since the US Olympic Committee (USOC) claimed that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was working with Russia in order to guarantee the safety of athletes and visitors to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  And, sadly, we still have no guarantee.

Which raises the question of just how long it should take for the host of the Olympic Games to promise that it won’t throw Olympic athletes, and visitors, in jail?  Shouldn’t that be a no-brainer?  And shouldn’t the fact that it’s taking going-on three weeks to get such a simple promise show that at this point no promise will be sufficient to guarantee the safety of our athletes?

As you know, Russia is in the middle of a violent crackdown on the human rights of its gay and trans citizens in order to bolster the failing Putin presidency (Putin has, in essence, made gay and trans people Russia’s new “Jews” – the “enemy” used to unite the people).

At the same time, neo-Nazi vigilante groups, who have been ignored, and certainly empowered, by the Russian government have been kidnapping and torturing gay teenagers across the country.  For a long while, the Russian authorities refused to even investigate the crimes, and now, following public pressure, they are investigating, though they say the torturers will only get 3 months in jail, if convicted.  Compare that to the jail terms given dissidents, or even someone who shoots a cat.

Russian vigilantes show off a young gay boy they claim to have abducted and then doused with urine after entrapping him via a gay social media site. Reports from Russia suggest the boy may now be dead.

Russia’s Sports Minister, Vitaly Mutko, has made clear, repeatedly, that Russia’s new anti-gay “propaganda” law – which prohibits anything perceived as pro-gay, whether it’s speech or even an article of clothing, or a hug – will apply to athletes and guests attending the 2014 Winter Olympics in  Sochi.

The Russian law is so broad that a gay Olympian seen in public with their same-sex spouse, or an NBC reporter conducting an interview with a gay athlete in which their same-sex spouse is mentioned, or a gay athlete simply receiving a hug from their gay partner after completing their competition, could lead to the arrest of all parties involved.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has been an outspoken advocate of jailing Sochi Olympians and guests  who do anything perceived as “pro-gay.” Photo by ????? ????????.

Let’s put aside for a moment the disturbing notion that the IOC even needs to ask Russia whether Olympic athletes and guests to the Sochi Games will be subject to arrest, kidnap, and torture.

No, what’s even more disturbing is that it’s taken nearly three weeks for the Russians to give a satisfactory answer to the question of whether Olympic athletes and guests will face arrest, kidnap and torture during the Sochi Games.

And that ought to tell us something.

A few weeks ago, Buzzfeed published a letter, dated July 25, 2013, from the US Olympic Committee, saying it was working with the IOC and the State Department in order to guarantee the safety of Americans at the Sochi Games.  In that letter, the USOC also noted that the IOC was working with the Russian government to determine how Russia’s draconian new anti-gay/anti-trans law might impact Olympic athletes and visitors during the Winter Games next February.

It’s now been nearly 3 weeks, and we still do not have our answer.

How many days does it take exactly to say “no, we’re not going to arrest, kidnap and torture Olympic athletes and guests during the Sochi Games”?

Apparently more than 19 .

Last Friday, more than two weeks after the USOC and IOC said they were trying to guarantee the safety of Olympic athletes and guests, the President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, said there were “still uncertainties” as to whether Olympics-host Russia had plans to harm Olympic athletes and guests at Sochi.

If it’s taking the Russians nearly three weeks to promise not to harm athletes and guests attending the Winter Olympics, I’d call that  more than an “uncertainty.”

15 year old gay Russian boy kidnapped, and tortured, by anti-gay vigilantes that the Russian government refused to arrest.

Let me put it another way.  Let’s say someone invites you to dinner at their house.  But you’ve gotten wind that at some point during the meal, your host might have plans to arrest you, and then quite possibly beat and torture you.

Now, it’s bad enough that you have to ask the host if he plans to harm you during the dinner party.

But it’s even worse that it’s taking the host nearly three weeks to get back to you, and the answers he’s given to date have been, shall we say, “uncertain.”

Guess who’s not coming to dinner.

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Oodles of Russian Olympic news today – it’s out of control, here’s a summary

I’m staggered by the amount of “news” there is this morning about the Russian Olympics, and the backlash the Russian government is feeling over its crackdown on its gay and trans citizens, and it’s ongoing threats to arrest Olympic athletes, guests and media during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

I figured it might be useful to simply list, and link, to the more important stories.  There are a ton.

 

International Olympic Committee may do Russia’s dirty work for it, sanctioning athletes that promote “gay propaganda.”
A second senior International Olympic Committee member expresses concern with Russia’s anti-gay crackdown.
US Senator Schumer: Putin is a bully, nations should wave rainbow flags during Olympic opening ceremony.
Two German cabinet ministers accuse Putin of leading Russia into a “flawless dictatorship.”
Irish concern grows over Russian clampdown.

Canada to favor refugee claims from gay Russian.
France’s Sports Minister is “worried” about Russian anti-gay law.
Limbaugh, right-wing hate groups, defend Russia.
Belgian’s stage kiss-in in front of Russian consulate.
California state senators want freeze on state retirement fund investment in Russia.
NYT: Gays in Russia find no haven
Representative of America’s lead anti-”gay marriage” group praises Russian anti-gay law.

Russian member of parliament calls British actor, and human rights advocate, Stephen Fry “a sick person,” mocks Fry’s admission that he attempted suicide last year. (I had initially embedded the BBC’s interview, but as the BBC apparently thinks the year is still 1998, and videos should auto-play on landing on a page, I’ve removed it. You can still find it via the link.)

 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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Russia may be 1st Olympic host to ever threaten to jail Olympians

When I see people talk about “the spirit of the Olympics,” and how the entire point of the Olympic Games is for enemies to put down their swords for two weeks and join together in sport, I have to chuckle.

Why?  Because the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia may be the first Olympic Games in recent memory – if not all history – where the host country has threatened to arrest the athletes.

Increasing worldwide concern about Russia’s growing crackdown on its gay and trans citizens, and now its promise to arrest Olympic athletes, visitors and media who attend the Sochi games, isn’t about politics, it’s about safety.  The “spirit of the Olympics” isn’t to risk your life for a medal.

In fact, the spirit of the Olympics is about quite the opposite of threatening the athletes, or anyone else.  You were kicked out of the Ancient Olympics if you violated the truce, which happened once to Sparta:

During the Olympic Games, a truce, or ekecheiria was observed. Three runners, known as spondophoroi were sent from Elis to the participant cities at each set of games to announce the beginning of the truce. During this period, armies were forbidden from entering Olympia, wars were suspended, and legal disputes and the use of the death penalty were forbidden. The truce was primarily designed to allow athletes and visitors to travel safely to the games and was, for the most part, observed. Thucydides wrote of a situation when the Spartans were forbidden from attending the games, and the violators of the truce were fined 2,000 minae for assaulting the city of Lepreum during the period of the ekecheiria. The Spartans disputed the fine and claimed that the truce had not yet taken hold.

There are a number of valid reasons to no longer host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia, and to move them, say, to the city of Vancouver for February of 2015 (to give Vancouver time to prepare).  But paramount among those reasons is concern for the safety of the athletes.

Russia’s threat to jail Olympic athletes, visitors and media is unprecedented in the history of the Olympics.

The Soviets didn’t threaten to jail the athletes during the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Even Hitler didn’t go that far when the Nazis hosted the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring watching events in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, via Wikipedia.

The very fact that Russia dawdled for three weeks, when asked by the International Olympic Committee for assurances as to the safety of the athletes attending the 2014 Winter Olympics, should have given the world pause.

But for Russia to now say “game on,” and recommit to throwing Olympic athletes, guests and media in the gulag, for the supposed protection of Russia’s “children,” is beyond the Olympic pale.

Russia can no longer be trusted to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.  The International Olympic Committee should stop throwing good money after bad and move the venue now, while it still can.

Russia can talk all it wants about the safety of the children.  The world should be worried about the safety of its athletes.

 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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