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.
__________
__________
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 Елена Рыбакова.
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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