Brunei Boycotts Spread to Milan

Years ago when I was in-house counsel for an oil company I traveled a great deal overseas and had the opportunity to stay at some amazing hotels - my all time favorite is the Plaza Athenee in Paris - including the Principe di Savoia in Milan.  Now, that august hotel is owned by the Sultan of Brunei and is feeling the effects of boycotts like those which have hit the Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.  A piece in the Advocate looks at the mounting boycott in Milan over Brunei's enactment of Sharia law that as written allows for the murder of women and gays.  Here are excerpts:

[N]ow the city’s preeminent hotel, the 87-year-old Principe di Savoia — associated with a string of legendary guests from Josephine Baker and Eva Peron to Madonna and George Clooney — is facing a mass boycott in protest of the hotel’s owner, the sultan of Brunei.

 

For a hotel that has long been the epicenter of the city’s fashion weeks, this is no small thing—losses from major fashion clients are likely to be in the tens of millions.

 

The boycott stems from the sultan’s decision to introduce Sharia law, which includes the death penalty for sodomy. Brunei has not carried out any executions since 1957, and the specter of public flogging and stoning has prompted international revulsion, as well as fierce rebukes from the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights and Amnesty International, which said the new law would “take the country back to the dark ages.”

 

Although the all-powerful sultan, with his $20 billion, can afford to weather almost anything, the boycott comes at a moment when gay rights have created a clear fault line between the west and Russia, Africa, and much of the Middle East. While the Dorchester Group, which owns the Principe, as well as the Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, claims that it is being unfairly singled out from other brands that depend on foreign investment, the boycott reflects a growing consciousness among American and European consumers of the role they can play in a globalized world.

 

But it’s not just individual consumers choosing to stay away. The Virgin Group was among the first to announce a boycott, quickly followed by Kering, which owns Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Bottega Veneta, Puma, and Saint Laurent, among many others. That decision has electrified others in the fashion world, including Anna Wintour, Love magazine editor Katie Grand, and designers like Tomas Meier, creative director of Bottega Veneta, who told The Advocate that he would be staying somewhere “more human rights-friendly” on his next trip to Milan.

 

As the ultimate party magnet for models, editors, and designers alike, this kind of fallout has got to sting.

 While I feel bad for the employees, I support the boycott and hope that it spreads to every hotel owned by the Sultan.

Jamaica Gleaner Endorses Marriage Equality

Having visited Jamaica years ago before the rise of the rampant homophobia that is now the government sponsored norm, I have advocated for a boycott of travel to Jamaica.  Yes, Jamaica is a beautiful country and most Jamaicans are lovely people.  But when the government encourages and enforces religious based bigotry, then it is time to avoid indirectly supporting government endorsed bigotry by not spending a penny in such a country.  Now, in an interesting development, the Jamaica Gleaner, one of Jamaica's leading newspapers has come out and not only condemned homophobia but gone even further and endorsed marriage equality.  Here are editorial highlights:

Their motivation, mostly, is because they love each other and want to commit their lives together, or so they believe. This sometimes includes having children and raising a family.

But judging from the statistics, marriage is not a particularly popular institution in Jamaica, and is becoming increasingly so. For instance, according to the national census of 2011, nearly 70 per cent of Jamaicans over 16, the age at which people can legally marry, never did.

And those who marry are abrogating the contract at an increasingly faster rate. For example, in 2005, there were just under 26,000 marriages in the island and Jamaicans were tying the knot at the rate of 9.78 per 1,000 population. Five years later, the number of couples walking down the aisles had dropped by approximately 5,500, or 21 per cent.

At the same time, divorce was on the increase. At the middle of the last decade, there were around 1,800 divorces annually, or approximately seven divorces per 100 marriages. By 2010, the number of divorces had climbed by 31 per cent, or at a rate of 11¹/² per 100 marriages. A not unexpected upshot of all this is that 80 per cent of Jamaica's children are born out of wedlock and the bulk of them have no registered fathers on their birth certificates.

We draw attention to these statistics neither to ridicule nor undermine marriage, for this newspaper appreciates its potential as an institution of social stability and respect its centrality to Christian and other religious ideologies. But by taking the marriage to its contractual core, it bares the persistence of hypocritical and anachronistic attitudes that perpetuate discrimination.

HYPOCRISY
In Jamaica's case, we refer to Section 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman, thereby ruling out the possibility of formal recognition of same-sex relationships. It is a provision that has its foundation in a deep-seated, if slowly receding, homophobia that has caused us to maintain the buggery provisions, which, essentially, criminalise male homosexuality and allows the State the role of commissar of sexual preferences and to invade the privacy of people's bedrooms. It matters nought that the power is little used; its existence is chilling.

INEQUALITY
Further, it is unassailable logic that Section 28 represents an assault on the principle of equality of people; people's right to forge relationships, especially when the exercise of those rights does not impinge on the rights of others; and their right to equal protection under the law. Indeed, a denial of these human rights is also an attack on the dignity of individuals who are prevented from the public expression of the powerful human emotion of love within the sanctity of marriage, although same-sex couples could well give the institution a shot in the arm.

The religionists and churches who are not willing to embrace same-sex marriages, but who already co-exist in a morally plural society, need not fear that they may have to compromise their ideologies. While civil registers are not so precluded, ministers of religions who are marriage officers are exempt, at Section 8 of the Marriage Act, from performing weddings that are contrary to the rules of their denominations.

It goes without saying that American Christofascists who have funded the fanning of homophobia in Jamaica cannot be happy with the Gleaner's editorial.  However, some times the real truth hurts.

Putin's Sochi Olympics - Not Ready for Prime Time

Got to love the sign at this Sochi hotel: Please do not flush toilet paper down the toilet.  Put it in the bin.

There are times that I think Vladimir Putin sees himself as Russia's new Tsar and that the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi are an extension of his overweening ego. If such is the case, events so far would seem to indicate that the Sochi Games have the potential to make both Putin and Russia a laughing stock.  What do I refer to?  The debacle that is unfolding as journalists are arriving in Sochi and finding their hotel accommodations unfinished or in a horrific state without running, potable water and a list of defects that make the local Hotel 6 look like Paris' Plaza Athene in comparison.  The Washington Post looks at the reaction of journalists to their inferior accommodations.  Here are excerpts:

Amid continued debate over whether or not Sochi is prepared to host the 2014 Olympics (here are 15 alarming signs that Russia might not be ready) reporters from around the world are starting to check into local hotels — to their apparent grief. Some journalists arriving in Sochi are describing appalling conditions in the housing there, where only six of nine media hotels are ready for guests. Hotels are still under construction. Water, if it’s running, isn’t drinkable. One German photographer told the AP over the weekend that his hotel still had stray dogs and construction workers wandering in and out of rooms.

The disarray seems to contradict repeated promises from both Russian and Olympic officials that Sochi is ready for the games, despite terrorist threats, unfinished construction and concerns over human rights abuses in the country. The Sochi Olympics have also run way over budget — to a record $51 billion — which seems particularly remarkable when you consider that some of the work isn’t actually done. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has of course denied that, insisting both that the “stage is ready” and that many concerns, including those over safety and construction, are overblown. Meanwhile, Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of Sochi's Olympic organizing committee, had this Twitter exchange with a CNN producer who complained that only one of the network's 11 requested rooms was ready for them.

Here are a few tweets that build a picture:

Harry Reekie @HarryCNN  CNN booked 11 rooms in one @Sochi2014 media hotel five months ago. We have been here for a day and only one room is available. #cnnsochi

Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7 Follow I have a room! No heating or internet, but it has a (single) bed at least...

Stacy St. Clair @StacyStClair Follow My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, "do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous. . . . Also on the bright side: I just washed my face with Evian, like I'm a Kardashian or something.

 It seems Putin made a major mistake - he is so used to a government controlled news media that he forgot that the visiting foreign journalists will nor be easily silenced.  Say what you want about the Romanov dynasty, but in its last years Russia was at the pinnacle in the arts and they did know how to put on an opulent, well choreographed show for the populace and foreigners.

The reception of our hotel in #Sochi has no floor. But it does have this welcoming picture.

I continue to hope that there are no terror attacks and that everyone in Sochi remains safe.  That said, I hope the Games turn into a total humiliation for Putin.

Sochi Killing Stray Dogs Ahead of the Olympic Games

A stray dog and its puppy sit behind the railings in the middle of a highway outside Sochi, Russia. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

There are already plenty of reasons to despise Vladimir Putin and his henchmen and sycophants who have organized the lead up to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russian - and the International Olympic Committee that awarded the Games to Sochi in the first place - but now we can add killing dogs to the list.  Obviously, it should come as little surprise that a regime that would declare de facto war on LGBT Russians and turn a blind eye towards violence against gays  would have no qualms whatsoever about killing as many stray dogs as possible before the Games commence on Friday.  I bear no grievance towards the Russian people per se, but I continue to hope that the Sochi Games turn into an unmitigated disaster for Putin.  Here are highlights from ABC News on the effort to kill dogs:

The city of Sochi has quietly hired a private company to kill as many of its stray dogs as possible ahead of the upcoming Winter Olympics, ABC News has learned. The city’s move came after it publicly backed off plans to do so last year amid outrage from animal rights groups.

The owner of the company, Alexei Sorokin, told ABC News by phone that he did not know how many dogs his company has culled so far and would not say when it was hired by the city of Sochi. He suggested the strays posed a threat to the games.  “Dogs must be taken off the streets even if that means putting them to sleep,” he added.

Sorokin said his company generally uses poisons and traps, but denied suggestions of animal cruelty. He said his company is the largest of its kind in Russia, but the practice of hunting stray dogs has become common throughout the country.

In Moscow, animal rights groups and pet owners have battled against so-called “dog hunters” — vigilantes who leave poison-laced meat in parks to kill off strays. The dog hunters say the strays are dangerous and have to be taken off the streets.

Sorokin also displayed a clear disdain for the strays.  “Let’s call things by their real name. These dogs are biological trash,” he said.

The homeless canines are a visible presence all around the city, as they are throughout Russia, where sterilization is not common and some owners simply abandon the animals in the street.

The mayor’s office did not respond to calls by ABC News seeking comment.

I guess in the minds of Putin gays are also "biological trash" that needs to be exterminated.  Putin and his thugs are truly miserable excuses for human beings.  I'd suggest that they are the true biological trash.

The Brutal, Bloody Horror of Gay Life in Putin’s Russia

With the 2014 Winter Games set to start in less than a week in a repressive dictatorship in all but name known as Russia, Slate provides a good look at the brutality of life for gays in Vladimir Putin's Russia.  A horror to which the International Olympic Committee has closed its eyes just as it did to the Nazi's treatment of Jews in the 1930's. Sadly, companies like Coca-Cola have joined in this reprehensible behavior as previously noted on this blog.  Bad things happen when good people sit on their hands and fail to act.  Here are highlights from the Slate piece that give a view of the bad things now happening in Russia:

Ever since virulently homophobic Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed through a law effectively outlawing openly gay people, the country’s LGBTQ community has, predictably, been plagued by violence. Now a study published in Harvard University’s Health and Human Rights journal confirms what myriad horrific anecdotes suggest: Gay people in Russia are being beaten, raped, and murdered at record rates—and the government is doing little to stop it.

The issue of violence against gays in Russia is, of course, nothing new. Before the passage of the new federal measure, several regional governments passed identical laws, stripping gay citizens of legal rights and human dignity. More than one-half of Russian gays reported psychological abuse, while 16 percent experienced physical assault, and 7 percent were raped. Yet 77 percent also reported complete distrust of the police, leaving most anti-gay crimes unreported.

By putting the government’s stamp of approval on rampant Russian homophobia, Putin effectively declared open season on gay people. As the Harvard study notes, violence against gays in Russia isn’t considered violence at all; rather, it’s thought of as a way for young males to prove their own heterosexuality—while simultaneously cleansing society of an aberrant, pedophilic community. That’s the motivation behind groups like Occupy Pedophilia, which lure in gay teens through social media in order to publicly humiliate them by beating them with sex toys or forcing them to drink urine.

In fact, much anti-gay violence comes from law enforcement officers themselves, who have brutally suppressed any public showing of gay tolerance. (That’s the law, after all.)

A strong and confident leader could have helped the country move beyond its antediluvian conceptions of sexuality and gender. Instead, the paranoid Putin has used gays as a common enemy and a scapegoat. He might have scored political points with this stunt, both in his own country and in the West. But the toll of his intolerance is currently being paid in human lives.

The boyfriend and I will not be tuning in to watch the Olympics.  Nor will we be by products of its sponsors like Coke.  In fact, the boyfriend's salon is switching the soft drinks it offers to clients to avoid Coke products.  

Will NBC's Olympics Broadcasts Ignore Russia's Anti-Gay Laws?

With the 2014 Winter Olympics almost upon us, a growing question is whether or not NBC - which has the broadcast rights for the Winter Games - kiss Vladimir Putin's bigoted ass and ignore the anti-gay laws and policies in Russia - policies that are frighteningly similar to how Hitler began his "final solution" for the Jews in 1930's Germany.   I for one plan to flip the dial and watch anything but NBC while the games are being televised.  Many friends plan to boycott the Winter Games coverage.  We have even started buying Pepsi instead of Coke (another Winter Games advertiser).  NBC, perhaps trying to save its financial ass - is claiming that it will not ignore the anti-gay laws and near pogroms against gays.    Time will tell if NBC is lying or not.   Huffington Post looks at NBC's dubious promises:

Bob Costas, the face of NBC’s primetime Sochi Olympics coverage, recently made headlines by telling the Associated Press that he was more interested in interviewing President Vladimir Putin about Russia’s controversial anti-gay laws than in offering his own commentary. 

That comment, Costas said Tuesday, was misinterpreted by some to suggest that he would avoid discussion of the widely condemned law banning gay "propaganda."

“If Putin doesn’t drag his butt into the studio, then we’ll talk about it without him,” Costas said during an Olympics press preview. “But if he shows up, we’d rather talk to him. Wouldn’t you rather hear it from the horse’s mouth? I would. That’s what I was trying to say.”

In addition to covering the Opening Ceremony and every sporting event, Costas and network executives on Tuesday stressed that NBC News plans to address political and social issues relevant to the games. 

Costas said that while everyone is keeping fingers crossed that nothing happens, the threat of a terrorist attack -- coupled with the controversy over Russian’s anti-gay laws -– have likely “increased awareness and interest in these games.”

“They don’t take the place of the competition, but I think people will be curious about that,” Costas said. “And at the beginning, we’ll discharge our responsibility in a straightforward way because framing those issues is part of the backdrop.
You have to frame the circumstances under which these events are about to take place, and then you return to those issues if and when they impact the games.”

Again, I will believe it if and when it happens.  In the interim, I will be watching anything buy NBC's coverage.  For those who wonder why I am so vehement, this highlights from a post on   The Gay Christian sum it up well under the caption "Silence is Deadly":

Look at this picture [the one at the top of this post].  No, I mean, really look at it.

What you are looking at is only a minor version of what is happening in Russia at the moment. Every day, LGBT individuals are being sought out and attacked. Every day, people are being assaulted and then thrown in jail for things as simple as wearing a rainbow lapel pin.

What you are staring at is the face of victimization and oppression. You are starting at the blood of human beings being spilled simply because they have an attraction to the same gender. And it’s possible you’re as much to blame as anyone else.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Now, I know that quote has been thrown around for decades, but here lately, it is beginning to make so much more sense, and it is beginning to dig deeper into my spirit.

People are dying. Today. Simply because they are gay.  People are being beaten. Today. Simply because they are gay.  People are being forced into prison. Today.  Simply because they are gay.

The Far Right has said for years that we have a “gay agenda.” I propose that we finally give them one. We have an agenda to seek the right to life, peace, and prosperity. We have an agenda of wanting to be able to love the person that we love without fear of being killed or beaten. We have an agenda of wanting to simply hold our partner’s hand in public without being spit upon, cursed at, or threatened. We have an agenda of wanting to be able to live with the person of our choosing without being forced into prison for doing so.

This is what we want, but we can’t do it silently. And we can’t do it while you – whether you’re gay, straight, trans*, or anything in between – sit there in silence. Speak up.  When you see or hear bigotry – speak up.

The time to be silent is over. If we’re going to make further progress, we have to get louder. We need you. These victims need you. Russia needs you. Uganda needs you. India needs you. America needs you.

Putin Eases Protest Ban in Sochi for the Olympics

In my view, it is a case of too little too late and it certainly will not change my mind about not watching any of the 2014 Winter Games or avoiding the products of its advertisers who are putting making a buck ahead of human rights, but Hitler-like Vladimir Putin has eased the bans on protests at the Sochi Olympics.  The change is more form that substance since any protests must (i) first be approved by the Russians and (ii) must be staged at a location 9 miles from the Olympic venues.  Meanwhile, the Russian anti-gay laws continue to create an environment that encourages hate and violence against gay Russian.   The only ones benefiting are Putin and the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church - long a supporter of despots and violence against non-believers - who are prostituting themselves to one another.   The New York Times has coverage.  Here are highlights:

President Vladimir V. Putin on Saturday eased a sweeping ban on public protests in Sochi, Russia, starting on Tuesday and continuing through the Olympic Games next month and the Paralympic Games in March. However, any demonstrations will require approval in advance from the authorities.

The ban, which Mr. Putin ordered in August, had prompted criticism from rights groups and concern from the International Olympic Committee. The new order, posted on the Kremlin’s website, seemed to be an effort to burnish Russia’s reputation before the Olympics. It followed the release of some of the nation’s most prominent prisoners, including the tycoon Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, two performers from the punk band Pussy Riot and 30 Greenpeace activists. 

The announcement completed plans that had been in the works to allow approved protests at a park in the Khosta district, about halfway between central Sochi and the Adler district, where the main Olympic Village is.

The protest zone, about nine miles from the nearest Olympic site, is similar to three created by the Chinese government during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In China, however, the authorities refused to grant permission for any rallies and harassed or arrested those who applied. 

Tanya Lokshina, Russia director at Human Rights Watch, said the easing of the ban was part of Russia’s “efforts to convince critics that it’s a democracy where freedom of expression is respected within reasonable limits.”  “I suggest they shouldn’t let themselves be convinced that easily,” Ms. Lokshina said.

Beginning on Tuesday, the authorities will ban unregistered vehicles in Sochi and increase security in public places. Russia’s equivalent of the National Security Agency is reported to have created a system to intercept any phone calls or emails to or from people in the area. Visitors to the Games, which begin Feb. 7, will have specially encoded passes in addition to tickets for events. Anyone seeking to hold a demonstration will have to get approval from the mayor’s office and the Federal Security Service, the domestic successor to the K.G.B. 

Obama, Biden, Top U.S. Officials To Boycott Sochi Olympic Games

As noted recently, top political leaders in France have announced that they will not be attending the 2014 Olympic Games which in many ways are reminiscent of the 1936 Berlin Games as  Hitler rose to power and used scapegoating and bigotry against Jews to label a small minority as enemies in his quest for a total dictatorship.  Now, top American officials have announced that they likewise will not be attending the Sochi Games and thereby giving a rebuke to Vladimir Putin and his homophobic regime.  BuzzFeed has details.  Here are highlights:

WASHINGTON — The United States will not be sending any of its top officials — either President or Mrs. Obama or Vice President or Dr. Biden — to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, as part of its delegation to the games. 

A former federal official, Janet Napolitano, will instead be leading the U.S. delegation, the White House announced Tuesday, and two out LGBT athletes — Billie Jean King and Caitlin Cahow — will be a part of the delegation as well. 

In addition to the Obamas and Bidens not attending the Olympics, no current cabinet members will be a part of the country’s delegation either. 

The news came with less than two months until the opening ceremony is slated to take place on Feb. 7, 2014, and signaled the continued U.S. disagreement with Russia’s anti-LGBT laws and other human rights concerns.

The delegation announcement was significantly more delayed than had been the case in 2012, when the White House announced First Lady Michelle Obama’s role leading the U.S. delegation to the Summer Olympics in London more than four months before the start of those games. In 2010, both Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden attended the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. In 2008, President George W. Bush attended the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

In recent weeks, both German President Joachim Gauck and French President François Hollande announced that they would not be attending the Sochi Olympics.

Part of the basis for Putin's embrace of homophobia has been his desire to prostitute himself to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church - a church leadership which has a centuries long history of seeking to subvert science, knowledge and modernity while supporting autocracy and the interests of the rich and powerful over the needs of the poor and needy.   Putin and the Russian people need to decide whether Russia will be a modern nation or a backwards looking second rate nation.  Right now, it appears that they have opted for the latter.

Gay Rights and Putin’s Olympics - A Growing Boycott of World Leaders?

1936 Berlin Summer Games - Hitler is top left of center

I've noted before that what Vladimir Putin's regime in Russia is doing to gays bears some parallel's to Hitler's campaign against the Jews.   It is important to remember that Hitler did not start out with the death camps and the outright extermination of the Jews.  No, it started on a smaller level that gradually built, in part because of the tepid response the rest of the world gave in reaction to what was being done in Germany.  Because of a meaningful international response, Hitler and the Nazis felt they could go forward with even more heinous policies.  Among those who failed to offer adequate condemnation of Hitler's Germany were, of course, the members of the International Olympic Committee which allowed Hitler to use the 1936 Summer Games to show off a supposed superior Germany.  Fast forward 78 years and we see the International Olympic Committee acting in precisely the same way with Vladimir Putin and Russia's anti-gay laws, proving the maxim that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  Thankfully, some world leaders have not forgotten the mistakes of the 1936 Olympic Games.  As The Guardian is reporting, French leaders have not forgotten 1936 and will not be attending the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.  Here are highlights:

Neither France's president, François Hollande, nor any top French official will attend the next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi, the country's foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, has said.

The decision to hold the Games in Russia has been criticised in France due to concerns over human rights abuses and a law passed in June that bans "gay propaganda", which critics say discriminates against homosexuals.

Fabius offered no explanation for the move. "There are no plans to attend," he told Europe 1 radio, referring to Hollande and himself. "Top French officials have no plans to be there."

Last week the office of the German president, Joachim Gauck, announced that he would not be attending the Sochi Games. The German government's human rights commissioner praised Gauck's decision as a "wonderful gesture".

Kudos to France!  Vanity Fair has a story that looks further at Putin's effort to reprise the dis-honor of the 1936 Games in February at Sochi.   It also reminds us of Putin's unsavory past as a KGB official.  Here are excerpts:

In Vladimir Putin’s Russia—official Russia—there is no controversy about the rights of gays and lesbians. Controversy suggests a serious clash of ideas and opinions; controversy suggests points of view that are in opposition and, potentially, subject to change. This is not the case when it comes to the human rights of homosexuals in Russia. In the Kremlin, in the parliament, in the courts, in the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, and on television there reigns a disdainful and intimidating unanimity: homosexuals are a threat to morality, to the family, and to the state.

Putin claims that the [anti-gay] law does nothing to infringe on the lives and rights of homosexuals (“They’re people, just like everyone else”); he insisted that the Russian people supported the legislation and, thus, must have it; he also says he is concerned that homosexuality is contributing to the country’s low birth rate.

Activists find this disingenuous at best. The law insures discrimination and provides a xenophobic regime with an Other to rally against. The activists also contend that the legislation is part of a larger ideological and legislative effort in Russia that seeks to stigmatize nongovernmental organizations as “foreign agents” and the West, in general, as a threat. The leadership invokes an anti-gay rhetoric reminiscent of the way Soviet leaders used to denounce Jews as “internal enemies,” the agents of foreign capital and spy services. Human-rights groups and L.G.B.T. organizations in Russia say that the law has opened the door to real misery: this year alone, they have documented hundreds of acts of violence, including murders, against gay men and women; workplace discrimination; and hateful (and sanctioned) rhetoric in the official media.

The Russian officials I meet always seem surprised that so many Westerners care at all about the rights of gay men and women. A few days ago, a senior official told me that such concerns were the inventions of the Western press. The reaction to questions about gay rights is usually either dismissive laughter or anger at what they view as self-righteous foreigners determined to embarrass Russia.  

[T]he general picture presented to the vast majority of the public through state television is miserable and threatening. Last month, on Rossiya 1, a well-known host named Arkady Mamontov devoted an episode of his show “Special Correspondent” to the topic of homosexuality. He and his reporters portrayed gay activists as Western-funded agents out to corrupt the moral foundation of the country.

Lest anyone think that Putin is not controlling the expressions of homophobia in the official Russian media, he just appointed Dmitri Kiselyov, a former television anchor, head of the new state news agency. In April, 2012, Kiselyov went on Rossiya 1 and said to a rapt studio audience:

I think that to fine gays for propagandizing homosexuality among teen-agers is not enough. They should be prohibited from donating blood or sperm. And their hearts, in the case of a car accident, should be buried, or burned, as unfit for extending anyone’s life.

All of this recent activity—the unpunished cases of harassment and violence, the ominous tone of the official press, the statements from the government and the Church—comes in the months and weeks leading up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi. (I’m planning to cover the games for The New Yorker and NBC.) 

[H]omophobic groups, some of them with nationalistic or Fascist ideas, feel free to harass gay men and lesbians, the activists said. In some cities, organized groups with names like Homophobic Wolf have posted pictures of gay men and lesbians online, the better for them to be identified and pursued on the street. Some have found placards plastered on the doorways of their buildings saying that a gay person lives within. Humiliation has become the stuff of everyday life.

There is much more that should be read.  The take away message?  Putin is doing to gays precisely what the Nazis did to Jews in the early 1930's.  And frighteningly, just as in the 1930's most of the world's governments are doing noting meaningful to condemn or punish Russia.  And the International Olympic Committee?  Just as in 1936 it is in bed with those guilty of bigotry and discrimination and encouraging hate and violence. 

I for one will NOT be watching the 2014 Games.  Moreover, I will be making a concerted effort to boycott products and services of advertisers who are in bed with Putin.  Again, I applaud France's leadership.  Where are the leaders of other advanced Democracies?  Will America refuse to send leaders like France?  Or will we prove that we learned nothing from the 1930's and the horrors that spinelessness allowed to take root?

Russian police abusing a gay rights protester

Russia Capitulates and Amends Olympic Truce to Include Sexual Orientation

I cannot help but wonder if Vladimir Putin is regretting prostituting himself to the reactionary, gay hating elements of the Russian Orthodox Church but jumping on board the anti-gay laws pasted by the Russian Duma.  In addition to a constant drum beat of negative publicity, fears that American sponsors may reconsider their involvement with the 2014 Winter Olympics, Russia has now been forced to sign an Olympic Truce that guarantees non-discrimination on any basis, including sexual orientation.  The New York Times has coverage.  Here are details:

Every two years, the United Nations adopts a resolution called the Olympic Truce, a perfunctory statement that invokes the ancient Greeks and celebrates friendly competition and “the cause of peace.” 

It usually passes with little deliberation. But not this year. 

While world leaders grappled with the crisis unfolding in Syria, a lesser debate was unfolding at the United Nations over the truce . . .

The controversy was over a rough draft of the truce that mentioned a promise to include “people of different age, sex, physical capacity, religion, race and social status,” according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. It made no mention of gay or transgender people, a particularly sensitive omission given the uproar in the West over a Russian law that has been criticized as antigay.

 

United Nations representatives from around the world spent weeks pushing Russia to amend the language to include gay people, according to interviews with representatives from eight countries. This week, after extensive negotiations behind the scenes, Russia altered the truce’s language to say that it would “promote social inclusion without discrimination of any kind.”

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, said recently that the truce “may sound like something from the distant past that has no place in our times.” But he maintained that it was still relevant. 

Past truces, including the one that Britain sponsored for the 2012 London Olympics, did not mention gay or transgender people. But this year, with global attention focused on the matter, countries are aiming to set a precedent of inclusion. 

“Along with like-minded partners, the United Kingdom is keen to see principles of nondiscrimination included in the Olympic Truce resolution,” said Iona Thomas, a spokeswoman for the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations. 

Russia’s law, signed by President Vladimir V. Putin in June, bans “propaganda on nontraditional sexual relationships.” It led to calls for protests and even some boycotts of the Sochi Games. The International Olympic Committee said it had received “strong written reassurances” from the Russian government that all would be welcome at the Sochi Games, regardless of their sexual orientation.

The United Nations is likely to vote on the truce in the coming weeks. 

Overall, this should count as a much deserved major humiliation to Putin and Russia.

Cher Tells Russia/Putin to Shove It, Turns Down Offer to Do Opening of 2014 Olympics

I have been a fan of Cher for a long, long time.  I of an age where I remember when she and Sonny Bono first appeared on television in the 1960's.  She has her detractors (especially among the Christofascist set), but she has never been afraid to speak her mind and she stood by Chaz Bono when he transitioned with no reluctance.  Now, she indicates that she was asked to a main act for the opening ceremonies for the 2014 Winter Olympics and she said no.  She will not go to an anti-gay country like Russia.  Hopefully, other major acts will follow suit and refuse to perform in Russia and make it perfectly clear why Russia has become a country to be avoided.  Russian may pretend that they don't care, but Russia has a long history of wanting to be accepted as a fully modern and western country.  When major stars and cultural exchanges refuse to visit, it will make a difference in the longer term.  I hope it ultimate bites Vladimir Putin in the ass big time.  Here are story highlights:

Her voice—that famous contralto—has kept Cher on the Billboard charts, on TV and in films for more than five decades. She is one of only 16 people on the planet to be part of the EGO club—a rarefied circle of performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy and an Oscar. And a Tony win may be in the cards in the future as she plans to stage a Broadway musical about her life. Her 26th album, Closer to the Truth, due out Sept. 24, comes more than a decade after her last full-length disc. Already, her latest single, Woman’s World, has made it to the Billboard dance club songs chart—her eighth No. 1 hit.  

Q: What do you think about what’s going on in Russia right now?

A: I can’t name names but my friend called who is a big oligarch over there, and asked me if I’d like to be an ambassador for the Olympics and open the show. I immediately said no. I want to know why all of this gay hate just exploded over there. He said the Russian people don’t feel the way the government does.

Russian Lawmaker Proposes Bill to Take Children Away from Gay Parents

What was done to the Jews in Hitler's Germany did not happen all at once.  Instead there was a steady but ominous campaign of whittling away the rights of Germany's Jews and ultimately their citizenship.  After that, the stage was set for the Nazi's "Final Solution" to the "Jewish Problem."  We seem to be seeing the beginnings of a similar campaign against gays in Russia spearheaded by Vladimir Putin and reactionary lawmakers seeking to win points with extremists in the Russian Orthodox Church, a church that historically supported pogroms against Jews and supported autocrats over the rights of the populace.  With Russia's anti-gay propaganda laws now on the books and increasing violence against gays, a Russian lawmaker (shown at right) has introduced legislation that would take the next step toward eliminating gays: children could be taken from their parents if the parents are gay or lesbian.  One would think in this day and age and in a supposedly modern nation such things could not happen.  Many foolishly believed the same thing in 1930's Germany.  And behind it all are two things: religious based bigotry and opportunistic, extremist politicians.  It's a deadly combination.  Here are details from Towelroad:

Gay parents would lose custody of their children under the terms of a new bill proposed in Russia, the AP reports:

The draft bill, published on parliament’s website on Thursday, would make the “fact of nontraditional sexual orientation” a basis for denying custody. Other grounds include alcoholism, drug use, and abuse...Alexei Zhuravlev (pictured), the author of the bill, referred to the earlier law and said that homosexual “propaganda” had to be banned not only in the public space “but also in the family.”

A Russian report says that Zhuravlev's bill hopes to amend Article 69 (Termination of Parental Rights) of the Family Code with a measure that says that having gay parents can do "great harm" to a child's mind.

Said Zhuravlev: "The bill is for those whose families have broken up due to non-traditional contacts of one of the spouses, or parents who do not hide sexual relations with persons of the same sex."

Zhuravlev went on to tell the paper that if a spouse suspects her husband is a practicing homosexual, "We have a court and the Investigative Committee..."

Attorneys expressed skepticism, noting that it is difficult to prove certain relationships and the bill would be used speculatively and create many fraudulent and provocative custody lawsuits.

In the documents submitted with the bill, Zhuravlev referred to the flawed, misleading, and scientifically unsound report on gay parenting conducted by UT-Austin professor Mark Regnerus and sponsored by U.S. religious right-wing groups.

Yesterday, in an interview with the AP, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied the existence of anti-gay laws in Russia, and said athletes and activists would not be punished for expressing support for gay rights in Sochi.

Note the reliance on the bogus Regnerus "study."  The growing parallels with 1930's Germany are frightening.  As for Putin's remarks, Hitler said similar things early on in his campaign against the Jews.  The 2014 Winter Games need to be moved from Russia NOW!

Russian Gold Medalists Kiss On Podium In Defiance Of Anti-Gay Law

Not everyone in Russia supports Vladimir Putin's and the Russian Orthodox Church's as evidenced by a same sex kiss on the awards podium by two Russian Gold Medalists at the World Track & Field Championships in Moscow.  Will they be arrested?  And will others competing in athletic events in Russia?  Or will international bodies like the IOC and those like Swedish officials who told Swedish high jumper Emma Green Tregaro that she had to paint over her rainbow flag colored fingernails act as anti-gay enforcers for Russia?  ALL international events - especially the 2014 Winter Olympic Games - need to be moved out of Russia until the anti-gay laws are repealed.  First details on the same sex kiss via Joe My God:

Kseniya Ryzhova and Tatyana Firova, two members of Russia's women's 4x400 relay team, defied their nation's ban on "homosexual propaganda" when they kissed on the podium during the presentation ceremony for their gold medals at the World Track & Field Championships in Moscow.  Just fantastic! Thank you, ladies, thank you!

As for the enablers in Sweden,  there's this from News.Com.Au:

Emma Green Tregaro modelled bright red nails yesterday as she took the field at the world championships.

Swedish officials told the 28-year-old her rainbow gesture, which brought international attention as a protest against Russia's new law against gay "propaganda," could be a violation of the competition's code of conduct.

She said the Swedish track and field federation asked her to "please respect the rules" and change the colour of her nails.  "So I decided to paint them red instead, for love," she said.

The general secretary of the Swedish federation said the IAAF, the sport's governing body, had warned them that Green Tregaro may have violated the code of conduct.

"They were saying that this was by definition a breach of the regulations, not saying anything else, really," Anders Albertsson said. "We have informed our athletes about this."

Apparently, Swedish officials leaned nothing from the 1936 Berlin games and what happens when one offers appeasement to brutal tyrants.  Shame on Sweden.

The International Olympic Commission: 1936 Deja Vu

This image pretty much says it all.  Hitler gave "assurances" too - and we all know where that led to.  Move the 2014 Winter Games.

Russia Confirms Anti-Gay Law Will Be Enforced at Olympics

Russia seemingly is striving to create an impasse with western public opinion and  to force the International Olympic Committee to either repeat the moral bankruptcy it displayed in 1936 or to move the 2014 Winter Games.  How else to explain the new statement by Russia's Interior Ministry that the country's new anti-gay laws will be enforced during the games and that both athletes and tourists will be arrested under the draconian laws backed by the Russian Orthodox Church.  IT IS TIME TO MOVE THE GAMES. Here are highlights from state controlled RIA Novosti:

MOSCOW, August 12 (R-Sport) – Russia's Interior Ministry, which controls the police force, confirmed Monday that the country's controversial anti-gay law will be enforced during the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

Confusion has reigned over how the country intends to act during the February 7-23 Winter Games after President Vladimir Putin signed legislation in June that bans the promotion of homosexuality to minors.

Minister Vitaly Mutko to insist no one is exempt from the law.

Many have raised concerns about the vague definition of promoting homosexuality to minors.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said last week he would ask for clarification on the issue before his organization takes a stance.

Some gay advocacy groups backed by public figures such as British writer and TV star Stephen Fry have called for a boycott of the Games, though world leaders including US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have insisted it's the wrong way to tackle the issue.

If the IOC repeats the gutlessness it displayed in 1936, I for one will not watch a single competition on television and I will avoid the network broadcasting the event as well as the products of its advertisers.  I hope others will join me in this endeavor and that a loud message is sent to NBC and advertisers.  

Gays in Russia Find No Haven, Despite Support From the West

A piece in the New York Times provides a good overview of the war on gays in Russia - and also the reality that concern and outrage in the western world has to date done little to end the plight of gays in Russia where anti-gay violence seems to be escalating in a chilling pattern reminiscent of Nazi Germany's onslaught against the Jews.  While the plight of gays in Russia has the attention of western powers, more needs to be done to end the anti-gay pogroms.  What's happening is also chilling because the Russian offensive against gays is precisely what American Christofascists would bring to this county if they were allowed to do so.  Here are article highlights:

The law, signed by President Vladimir V. Putin in June, has ignited international condemnation and blindsided the Kremlin with the sort of toxic political controversy that officials had desperately hoped to avoid ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. The last Olympics on Russian soil, in 1980, was marred by the boycott over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. 

The furor includes a boycott of Russian vodka in gay bars throughout the West and some calls for a boycott of the Sochi Games altogether. Beyond putting organizers on the defensive, it has cast worldwide attention on the cruel circumstances in which most gay people live in modern Russia.

Despite the breathtaking wealth and vibrant culture in the metropolises of Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia remains a country where discrimination and even violence against gay people are widely tolerated. 

“What is going on now in Russia contradicts its place in the world,” said Anton Krasovsky, a television anchor who was immediately fired from his job at the government-controlled KontrTV network in January after he announced during a live broadcast that he is gay, saying he was fed up with lying about his life and offended by the legislation. 

Few gay people in Russia openly acknowledge their sexual orientation, and those who do are often harassed. When some gay people protested the propaganda law by kissing outside the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament, police officers stood by and watched as the demonstrators were doused with water and beaten by antigay and religious supporters of the bill.

Last month, Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, called same-sex marriage “a very dangerous sign of the apocalypse.” 

Mixed signals from senior Russian officials over how the propaganda law might be enforced during the Games have undercut assertions by the International Olympic Committee that gay athletes and spectators have nothing to worry about, and have left organizing officials facing harsh criticism and demanding clarifications from the Kremlin. 

There have been comparisons to Nazi Germany as host of the 1936 Olympics inside and outside Russia, including one by Jay Leno during an interview with President Obama last week on “The Tonight Show.” 

“Something that shocked me about Russia,” Mr. Leno told the president. “Suddenly, homosexuality is against the law. I mean, this seems like Germany: Let’s round up the Jews. Let’s round up the gays. Let’s round up the blacks. I mean, it starts with that.” 

Russian officials say the criticism is unfair and inaccurate. In 1993, Russia repealed the Soviet-era law that made gay sex a crime.  

Gay rights advocates disagree, saying the law is vague and can be used to arrest anyone who appears to support gay rights.

Russian gay rights advocates said the outrage in the West was providing new energy and financial support to their still relatively young movement. It is also raising pressure, including fears of increased violence. 

“It’s not only a question of the period of the Olympic Games; here, there should be no law like this,” said Kirill Kalugin, 21, who was beaten by counter demonstrators at a gay pride event in St. Petersburg last month and then detained by the police. “I feel very offended that I am being presented as an enemy of my own people.”

Rights advocates said that Russia was growing more dangerous for gay people. This year, there have been at least two killings motivated by antigay bias in the country, including the savage beating death in May of a young man in Volgograd who was also sodomized with beer bottles. 

Mr. Smirnov said that even in Moscow and in St. Petersburg, where there are large gay populations, as well as a thriving and visible gay night life that includes several gay bars and clubs, bias was inescapable.

It's a frightening phenomenon and behind it all over and above Putin's quest to retain power is one of the great evils of the world: religion.   As for the 2014 Winter Games, I want to see them moved from Russia.

The Anti-Gay World: 76 Countries Where Being Gay is Illegal

Click image to enlarge

Russia has deservedly been receiving a great deal of media coverage of its newly enacted anti-gay laws - laws motivated by a desire to distract the public from government corruption and incompetence and to win the support of Neanderthals in the Russian Orthodox Church.  But sadly, Russia is only one a many countries where being gay continues to be illegal and, in some cases can subject one to the death penalty.  The main distinction for Russia, is that unlike all but one or two of these other anti-gay countries, it likes to view itself as a modern, civilized and westernized nation.  These new laws underscore that such is, in fact, not the case. BuzzFeed looks at the other anti-gay countries around the world - countries that gays and their allies should avoid visiting or financially supporting in any way.  Here are highlights:

It is illegal to be gay in 76 countries. Punishments range from fines to short and lifelong prison sentences, hard labor, forced psychiatric treatment, banishment, whippings, and death by public stoning. The upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi have put Russia’s “gay propaganda” law and the international community on an unavoidable collision course, but whatever happens in February is only the beginning of a broader (and much more complicated) conversation about the status of LGBT rights around the world. 

In May 2013, the International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) released a 110-page study on the status of the international LGBT community with country-by-country profiles of relevant laws. The report is updated annually and was used throughout this post along with other sources when possible.

Here's a sampling of some of these nations - some of which receive billions of dollars in American aid, something that needs to be rethought if change doesn't take place:

1. Afghanistan — Imprisonment.  During Taliban rule, same-sex activity in Afghanistan could lead to the death penalty. The situation has improved, relatively speaking, as a conviction for “pederasty” — used to describe all homosexual relations, regardless of the persons’ ages — results in a “long” prison sentence.

4. Antigua and Barbuda — Up to 15 years in prison.  “Buggery,” a common term for same-sex relations in the Caribbean, comes with a possible 15-year jail sentence in Antigua and Barbuda. The lesser charge of “serious indecency” applies to sexual acts other than sodomy, punishable by up to five years in prison by consenting adults.

6. Barbados — Up to life in prison. According to Barbados’ Sexual Offenses Act of 1992, “Any person who commits buggery is guilty of an offense and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.” The lesser, related charge “serious indecency” can result in up to 10 years in prison.

7. Belize — 10 years in prison.  Having sex with a person of the same sex is considered an “unnatural crime” in Belize and comes with a 10-year prison sentence.

14. Dominica — Up to 25 years in prison and a possible psychiatric treatment.  In addition to jail sentences for “gross indecency” (maximum 10 years) and “buggery” violations (maximum 25), the island of Dominca could also require “ex-gay” therapy. As noted in Section 16 of the country’s penal code: “Any person who attempts to commit the offense of buggery, or is guilty of an assault with the intent to commit the same is guilty of an offense and liable to imprisonment for four years and, if the Court thinks it, the Court may order that the convicted person be admitted to the psychiatric hospital for treatment.”

23. Jamaica — Up to 10 years in prison.  Jamaican law terms “buggery” an “abominable” crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Just a few weeks ago, a teenager was brutally murdered after being caught cross-dressing at a street party in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The tragedy once again underscores how state-sanctioned homophobia is only part of the hostility LGBT people face across the world.

24. Iran — Death penalty.  Even with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (who infamously declared during a 2007 appearance at Columbia University, “In Iran, we don’t have gays”) no longer in office, Iran remains one of the most anti-gay nations on earth. Men convicted of sodomy — defined under the Islamic Penal Code of 1991 as “sexual intercourse with a male” — face death, the method of which is determined by a Shariah (Islamic law) judge. A man just kissing another man is punishable by “60 lashes.”

49. Saudi Arabia — Banishment, whipping, and death by public stoning.  According to the 2013 ILGA report, “There is no codifed Penal Law in Saudi-Arabia. Instead, the country applies strict Islamic Sharia law. According to the interpretation sodomy is criminalized. For a married man the penalty is death by stoning, while the penalty for an unmarried man is 100 blows of the whip as well as banishment for a year. For a non-Muslim, who commits sodomy with a Muslim, the penalty is death by stoning. Moreover are all sexual relations outside of marriage illegal in Saudi-Arabia according to the Sharia law, including sexual relations between women.”

53. Singapore — Up to two years in jail; same-sex relations between women are legal.  In April 2013, the highest court in Singapore threw out a challenge to the country’s anti-sodomy law, saying it was a decision best left to the legislature. An LGBT activist in the country told AFP, “[The law] doesn’t just criminalise gay men. It justifies a wide range of abusive behaviours and institutionalises discrimination against LGBT people. It sends the wrong signal to the world that Singapore is a backward and regressive state.”

58. St. Kitts and Nevis — Up to 10 years in prison, possibly with hard labor.  The ILGA’s 2013 analysis of St. Kitts and Nevis’ “Offenses Against the Person Act” notes that, “The Revised Laws prescribe terms of imprisonment of up to ten years, with or without hard labor, upon conviction for engaging in anal sex, described as “the abominable crime of buggery.” Attempted “buggery” is sanctioned by up to four years imprisonment, with or without hard labor, as is “any indecent assault upon any male person.” The latter, which is in no way defined, is subject to arbitrary interpretation. It could potentially encompass any behavior perceived as a “homosexual advance.”

 Read the entire article and make note of countries to avoid when planning your next vacation or your next purchase.  Better yet, let clothing manufactures know why you will not be buying their product if it is made in an anti-gay country such as Bangladesh.

Russia’s War on Gays - Haunting Lessons of Nazi Olympics

The condemnation of Russia and its new anti-gay laws continues to mount.  Not that newspaper editorials and petitions and boycotts will miraculously provide a spine to the International Olympic Committee ("IOC") which seems destined to reprise its embrace of dictators and regimes that audaciously engage in human rights abuses as was the case in 1936 when the IOC jumped into bed with Adolph Hitler.  An op-ed in the New York Times, an editorial in the Washington Post and an opinion piece at CNN all rip Russia and by extension condemn the IOC if it continues to follow it appeasement approach with Russia and/or retaliates against athletes who engage in pro-gay activities.  Here are telling excerpts from the CNN piece:

Usually when we talk about the 1936 Olympics in Berlin we focus on two men -- Adolf Hitler and Jesse Owens -- and rightfully so. They are the two with an undeniable impact on history, albeit in vastly different ways.

But in light of President Barack Obama's recent remarks on "The Tonight Show" denouncing Russia's new anti-gay laws, laws that have led to bloodshed in the streets, it is important that we remember Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller. 

They too were at those games. They too left a mark.  You see, the day before they were scheduled to run in the 400-meter relay, their coach, Dean Cromwell, replaced them.

They were not injured.  They did not break any team rules nor were they disqualified for any violations.  They were, however, Jewish, and this was Nazi Germany, which had adopted the Nuremberg laws limiting Jewish citizens' rights a year earlier. Apparently, Cromwell, along with leaders from the U.S. Olympic Committee, decided it would be best if Glickman and Stoller did not compete.

 

Today we know better.  Today we look at that decision and lower our heads in shame, understanding that it made us complicit with something that evolved into a far worse crime than unjustly replacing a pair of sprinters. In the moment when we should have spoken up, we remained silent. 

And so here we are again: an Olympics on the horizon, another host country with recently legislated laws persecuting a group of people, and for a while, we were silent. And then Tuesday happened.

Last month Buzzfeed provided the world photos of LGBT people being violently beaten by anti-gay protesters and police in Russia.

There are reports of LGBT teens being kidnapped, bullied, tortured and killed.

Russian officials have said they don't condone the attacks, but police have stood by while they happened and then arrested the battered victims for being gay.

I just want to remind you that the Holocaust did not happen overnight. It was subtle. Surgical.  In silence.

These new anti-gay laws are disturbingly similar to the anti-Semitic Nuremberg laws Hitler passed before the 1936 Olympics. And with the Pew Institute finding 84% of Russians believe society should reject gay people, perhaps some saying they object to gays for fear of arrest, the world should question how far Russia intends to go.

We should question how far Russia, our lukewarm ally, intends to go and what our participation in the 2014 Olympic Games will look like generations from now.

In one of his final interviews before passing away in 2001, Glickman told the San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage that there had been some talk of boycotting the 1936 Olympics because of Hitler, but no one foresaw what would happen to the Jews a short time later.

  Well said.  And here are highlights from the Washington Post's editorial:

While Russia and the Soviet Union before it have generally been hostile to gay people, the recent intensity of Mr. Putin’s war is part and parcel of his lapse into xenophobia, religious chauvinism and general intolerance as the urban middle class increasingly questions the legitimacy of his authoritarian rule. But if Mr. Putin believed that persecution of gay people would be a domestic issue of little interest to the world, he miscalculated. As Mr. Obama rightly highlighted, the dignity with which gays are treated has been recognized as a fundamental human rights concern in much of the world. No country, especially not one on the cusp of hosting the Olympic Games, should expect such bigotry to go unnoticed. 

Mr. Obama, speaking on the eve of his cancellation of a summit meeting in Moscow, said he felt Mr. Putin would surely understand “that for most of the countries that participate in the Olympics, we wouldn’t tolerate gays and lesbians being treated differently.” The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should understand that as well. On Wednesday the committee received a petition with more than 300,000 signatures urging it to boycott Sochi as the host city. 

That may be unlikely, but the IOC will have to take some definitive stand in the weeks ahead, especially after Vitaly L. Mutko, Russia’s minister of sports, pronounced that Olympic athletes of all nationalities would be subject to the “propaganda” law. Those words stand in contrast to the IOC’s commitment that “the Games themselves should be open to all, free of discrimination, and that applies to spectators, officials, media and of course athletes.” The Olympic spirit is not compatible with a gag order on expressions of human freedom.

All these years after the 1936 Berlin Games, the IOC still hasn't grasp the concept that bad things happen when good people do nothing.  The IOC needs to either move the games - which would be a PR disaster for Putin - or allow athletes to act as suggested in the New York Times op-ed.  This would likewise be a very public and stinging rebuke to Putin and the Neanderthals in the Russian Orthodox Church whom he is courting.  As noted in prior posts, the Russian Orthodox Church has a very ugly history of siding with tyrants and betraying both the Gospel message and the general citizenry.