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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Onward to Sochi

Onward to Sochi

by Anne Laurie|  December 17, 20138:56 pm| 54 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Gay Rights are Human Rights, Sports

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Johnny Weir – Poker Face by frutty87
(h/t commentor Felinious Wench)

Via commentor LAMH36:

The White House delivered a strong message of opposition to Russia’s anti-gay laws Tuesday with the announcement of its delegation to the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics.

The White House delegation will include an openly gay athlete: tennis great Billie Jean King.

It will not include the president, first lady or the vice president, all who headed the previous four Olympic delegations, or a cabinet secretary, only a former one. This marks the first Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Summer Games that a U.S. president, vice president, first lady or former president has not been a member of the delegation for the opening ceremony, which will be Feb. 7 in Sochi…

The Washington Post ran two articles on the upcoming Sochi Olympics last weekend, an editorial:

… Mr. Putin’s actions place him blatantly at odds with Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter, which bans “any form of discrimination” by a host country. But the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which overlooked China’s crackdown on free expression and political dissent prior to the 2008 Summer Games, has declined to take notice — much less to put pressure on Moscow. Instead, IOC officials are pointing to statements by Mr. Putin that gay athletes and spectators will not be discriminated against during the Games.

That assurance is looking increasingly dubious. Mr. Putin’s rhetoric and the anti-gay law he supported have opened the floodgates for gay-bashing in Russia. State television programs regularly broadcast vile propaganda denouncing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement. As Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch recently reported on the opposite page, state television channel Rossiya 1, whose parent is an Olympic broadcasting franchise holder, recently used a secretly made recording of a meeting she had with Russian gay activists to support the claim that “Western, European sodomites are trying to infiltrate Russia and organize a protest movement here, among our Russian perverts.”…

… and a multi-page travel guide to the city, including the following:

“… We’re not used to a man kissing another man,” said [tour guide] Andrei. “Sooner or later, we’ll all follow your footsteps, but it’s not going to be this year or next.”

Sochi is home to two gay clubs, including the Lighthouse, which holds nightly drag shows. Owner Andrei Tanichev, who opened the establishment eight years ago, said that he has planned a special performance for the Olympics, assembling the country’s best “actors” (translation: drag queens). He is also preparing something smashing for the Group of Eight summit in June 2014.

“We are more tolerant than people in other cities,” he said from the comfort of a dimly lit booth at his club. “After some time, Russian people will be more tolerant.”…

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Reader Interactions

54Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    December 17, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    Fabulous!

  2. 2.

    Baud

    December 17, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    OT: Anyone watching Rachel? Apparently, Issa is the original Snowden.

  3. 3.

    Yatsuno

    December 17, 2013 at 9:17 pm

    @Baud: lolwut? Is someone doing cheap Wal-Mart crack?

  4. 4.

    MikeJ

    December 17, 2013 at 9:18 pm

    @Yatsuno: BTW, you have an ereader with you?

  5. 5.

    Narcissus

    December 17, 2013 at 9:19 pm

    I think it would be cool if athletes, activists and media-types made Sochi the gayest Olympics ever.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    December 17, 2013 at 9:21 pm

    @Yatsuno:

    Is someone doing cheap Wal-Mart crack?

    As opposed to the pricey stuff you’re now on…?

    Actually, apparently Issa had a bad habit of leaking confidential documents that he would subpoena as Chairman of House Oversight, so now the White House is not giving him any more docs.

  7. 7.

    kindness

    December 17, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    No I am not comforted by those assuring words.

    But rather than pull out of the Olympics I think the best lesson would be to have the Russians get their asses kicked in the games by a LBGT Olympian.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    December 17, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    Would that the jumbtron be hacked, with this or something similar.

  9. 9.

    Yatsuno

    December 17, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    @MikeJ: I forgot it. I could send Mom back for it but I’m not sure where it is. It’s just an old Kindle anyway. Pourquoi?

  10. 10.

    Yatsuno

    December 17, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    @Baud: Oh I saw him bitch about that this morning. The man is a thief and a liar so I’m on the side of the White House here.

  11. 11.

    Violet

    December 17, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    I’m going to miss Johnny Weir at the Olympics. He was always my favorite skater to watch.

  12. 12.

    MikeJ

    December 17, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    @Yatsuno: Was gonna give you login to my library so you wouldn’t run out of stuff to read while confined. Text me if you need it.

  13. 13.

    Violet

    December 17, 2013 at 9:27 pm

    @NotMax: A job for Anonymous maybe?

  14. 14.

    Baud

    December 17, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    @efgoldman:

    I didn’t mean to defame Snowden by comparing Issa to him. My bad.

  15. 15.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 17, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    You know who else presided over an Olympics when he was the leader. Bow before the paw.

  16. 16.

    RobertDSC-Power Mac G5 Dual

    December 17, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    But he had Rick Warren speak at his inaugural!

    Seriously, I’m glad the President made this move.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    December 17, 2013 at 9:32 pm

    The White House delegation will include an openly gay athlete: tennis great Billie Jean King.

    Oldish joke (gonna get slapped for this):

    Q: What do you get if you cross Billie Jean King with Bo Derek?

    A: A DC-10.

  18. 18.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    December 17, 2013 at 9:32 pm

    WORSE THAN BUSH!

  19. 19.

    Botsplainer

    December 17, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    @efgoldman:

    You know: “I don’t know how anyone could watch this dreck, it’s a spectacular failure.” becomes: “I know… anyone could watch… it’s… spectacular….”

    Been reading Amazon book reviews for “direct to kindle” releases, I see.

  20. 20.

    Comrade Jake

    December 17, 2013 at 9:38 pm

    What’s awesome about this is that the wingnuts are going to freak, only to realize they’ve aligned themselves with… the Russians.

  21. 21.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 17, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    @efgoldman: Ah, but the car thief didn’t just leak the documents

    That’s not fair. Congressman Darrell Issa made a lot more money from arson and insurance fraud than he did from stealing cars. At least that’s what People Are Saying.

    @RobertDSC-Power Mac G5 Dual: But he had Rick Warren speak at his inaugural!

    Pffft. O-bot. He’s been dead to me since Donnie McClurkin sang at a rally for him. (Don’t know who Donnie McClurkin is? Turn in your PUMA card!).

  22. 22.

    MomSense

    December 17, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    @Violet:

    I love watching Johnny Weir. I also love it when gofugyourself reviews the ice skating costumes.

    http://gofugyourself.com/us_national_fugure-skating_championships2010-01-2010

  23. 23.

    dmsilev

    December 17, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    @Comrade Jake: A lot of the wingnuts love Putin. Good authoritative leader with Solid Conservative Views, and as a bonus appeals to those wingnuts with latent or repressed homosexual feelings.

  24. 24.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 17, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Some wingnuts are proud to ally themselves with Vladimir Putin, including this high-ranking member of the Reagan administration.

    President Reagan once called the old Soviet Empire “the focus of evil in the modern world.” President Putin is implying that Barack Obama’s America may deserve the title in the 21st century. Nor is he without an argument when we reflect on America’s embrace of abortion on demand, homosexual marriage, pornography, promiscuity, and the whole panoply of Hollywood values. Our grandparents would not recognize the America in which we live.

  25. 25.

    Comrade Jake

    December 17, 2013 at 9:50 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: LOL – Pat Buchanan FTW!

    My favorite Buchanan story. He was in the GOP primary in NH, and the usual charges of anti-semitism came up. He was giving an interview and was claiming he obviously didn’t have anything against the Jews, because, gosh darnit, look at all of his Jewish friends.

    One of the local TV stations interviewed one of the rabbis in Manchester and asked him what he thought of Buchanan’s explanation. The rabbi said “I believe him. After all, I have a lot of friends who are anti-semites.”

  26. 26.

    raven

    December 17, 2013 at 9:52 pm

    Bonnie Blair is from Champaign. Go Illini!

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    December 17, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    @efgoldman

    True story.

    Back in the Bronze Age, there was one reviewer for a paper who just hated my guts. (He was the live-in lover of a woman on the theater’s board of directors who was bent out of shape that I wouldn’t bow and scrape to her as did most everyone else.)

    I had directed a show, and the review was (paraphrasing):

    “Fabulous production. Don’t know when I’ve had a more enjoyable night at the theater. Rarely experience staging and performances of such stupendous vitality. Drop whatever you’re doing and get tickets now! Oh, by the way, the direction sucked.”

    I laughed at it then, and still do.

    P.S.: Show sold out every night of its run, and was the only production done that entire season which turned a profit. A hefty profit.

  28. 28.

    Ash Can

    December 17, 2013 at 10:07 pm

    Johnny Weir is tremendous. That is all.

  29. 29.

    jenn

    December 17, 2013 at 10:12 pm

    As an aside to someone in one of the previous threads, who thought Brian Boitano was Canadian, and then thought, well, maybe they were thinking of Kurt Browning, I postulate instead that they were thinking of Brian Orser. The Battle(s) of the Brians got a lot of airplay back in the day.

    /not that you really care!

  30. 30.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 17, 2013 at 10:21 pm

    I hope the Sochi Olympics will be fabulous.

  31. 31.

    Belafon

    December 17, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Our grandparents would not recognize the America in which we live.

    Good. I know a little of my grandparents time, and I would not want this country to go back there. My grandfather, who only had a third grade education, made my grandmother quit high school after the eleventh grade because it was useless.

  32. 32.

    El Caganer

    December 17, 2013 at 11:00 pm

    Maybe I’m not reading as much about this as I should, but it doesn’t sound like the Russians are running this dog-and-pony show for us. Sounds more like they’re pitching India and any Muslim-ruled countries they can find.

  33. 33.

    Keith G

    December 17, 2013 at 11:16 pm

    The massive ineffectiveness of the camera crew in the above video sure give one reason to respect the professionalism of American production values in such events. Wier was out of frame way too much.

  34. 34.

    Cacti

    December 17, 2013 at 11:20 pm

    President Obama has easily been the most gay-friendly POTUS in US history, and that by a comfortable margin.

    I hope that this establishes a new normal for Dem presidential candidates going forward.

  35. 35.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 17, 2013 at 11:46 pm

    @Cacti: You are clearly forgetting Grover Cleveland.

  36. 36.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    December 17, 2013 at 11:52 pm

    I’m hoping a couple of athletes on the medal stand raise their fists wearing rainbow colored gloves in the gay power salute.

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 18, 2013 at 12:00 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): I am expecting someone to do something – maybe not that, but something.

  38. 38.

    Bubba Dave

    December 18, 2013 at 1:07 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
    A rainbow fisting for Putin!

  39. 39.

    Ripley

    December 18, 2013 at 1:31 am

    @Bubba Dave: Yeah, like that’s never happened before.

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 18, 2013 at 1:45 am

    @Ripley: Ew.

  41. 41.

    AxelFoley

    December 18, 2013 at 2:44 am

    Someone told me Bamz hated teh gayz.

  42. 42.

    fuckwit

    December 18, 2013 at 3:06 am

    Western, European sodomites are trying to infiltrate Russia and organize a protest movement here, among our Russian perverts

    Wow… the ex-commies are now seeing commies, erhm, Americans, hiding under their beds, trying to destroy them by corrupting the Purity of Essence of their bodily fluids!

    Maybe they should dig up old Tailgunner Joe, teach him to speak Russian, and ship him over there?

    The irony of this is astounding.

    The Russians, who American betwetters were once terrified of, thinking that rock music and marijuana were communist conspiracies to destroy our moral rectitude and collapse our society, are now themselves convinced that gay people and porn are an American conspiracy to destroy their moral rectitude and collapse their society.

  43. 43.

    NotOnScript

    December 18, 2013 at 7:23 am

    “We’re not used to a man kissing another man,” said Andrei. “Sooner or later, we’ll all follow your footsteps, but it’s not going to be this year or next.”

    I guess the Russians must be protected from learning about the history of Christianity. The kiss of peace is obviously a Western idea. (Link to Wikipedia article containing a picture NSFW in Russia.)

  44. 44.

    Ramalama

    December 18, 2013 at 8:05 am

    I recently watched the Billie Jean King special online at pbs.borg and was kind of amazed at how outwardly shitty people (men and the occasional female British tennis champ) were towards … women. Not amazed the people are shitty, just how out they were – not just Republicans of a certain ilk about their attitudes against women.

    I became aware of tennis when Martina still had brown hair (she’s the reason why I fell in love with the sport), and not so much BJK. I was really young and I didn’t know how key a role women’s tennis, Virginia Slims, played in staging the case for equal rights.

    The fact that BJK is also a lesbo and not apologetic about it, makes her appointment to represent such a great burn to Russia. Thanks a lot, Obama.

  45. 45.

    mikefromArlington

    December 18, 2013 at 8:25 am

    Obama = Bush

  46. 46.

    C.V. Danes

    December 18, 2013 at 8:58 am

    The reason the International Olympic Committee overlooks these kinds of things is because of the star$ in their eye$.

  47. 47.

    sparrow

    December 18, 2013 at 9:15 am

    @fuckwit: Wingnut is a universal phenomenon.

    Every day I look around me and realize humanity as a whole is way too stupid to survive for very much longer. Sigh.

  48. 48.

    Vanya

    December 18, 2013 at 10:06 am

    @El Caganer: “it doesn’t sound like the Russians are running this dog-and-pony show for us.”

    No, it’s for internal consumption. In order to stay in power Putin needs the population to believe the West presents a threat. Now that Russians have embraced markets, mass consumption, etc. it is getting harder and harder to do that. Railing about the West’s shallow consumer culture rings pretty hollow, while everyone in Russia knows people live much better in Europe and that there is no military threat coming from Europe. He can’t use religion directly as the wedge because promoting Orthodoxy too aggressively would alienate Russia’s significant muslim population as well as Russia’s muslim semi-satellites like Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan. Gay rights are just the simplest issue available to get Russian cultural conservatives and xenophobes of all stripes unified against the “Western threat”, and convince them that Putin is protecting them. Since Russians have traditionally been more tolerant about people’s private sexual practices than Western Europeans or Americans, I’m not sure how effective Putin’s strategy will be long term, I tend to think not very.

  49. 49.

    mai naem

    December 18, 2013 at 10:42 am

    Is there a reason they have Janet Napolitano going? I know the rumors but did Janet ever come out as gay? I was wondering if they’re sending her because of Snowden or because of the possible ghey.

  50. 50.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 18, 2013 at 11:31 am

    A dissenting opinion from Curt Thompson on Google+:

    https://plus.google.com/u/1/+CurtThompson/posts/VtTkp5HNJkk

    But in truth, it does nothing, sends no message, it just looks good without having any substance behind it. Which sums up 99% of this president’s ‘commitment’ to LGBT people.

    Substance would have been pulling out of the Olympics and taking the heat for that. But no, that would have cost him political leverage. And god knows the Chicago machine graduate can’t spend that on anything as frivolous as LGBT people dying. They aren’t, after all, likely to complain to HRC.

    Johnny Weir has been getting a lot of heat as well for mocking people who want the US to pull out of Sochi.

  51. 51.

    john b

    December 18, 2013 at 12:08 pm

    i don’t see how screwing a bunch of athletes out of a lifetime’s preparation for the olympics would accomplish much. It seems it would piss off a lot of Americans, and improve nothing in Russia.

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    December 18, 2013 at 12:24 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I didn’t realize that killing off DOMA and making it possible for gay servicemembers to have their marriages recognized was something that just “looks good without having any substance behind it.”

    I also didn’t realize that protesting at the place where the discrimination is happening is inferior to protesting 5,000 miles away from it. Live and learn, I guess.

    ETA: I can understand people wanting a boycott, but to turn a lack of one into yet another example of Obama slapping LGBT people in the face prepatory to throwing them under the bus is just dumb.

  53. 53.

    Three-nineteen

    December 18, 2013 at 1:05 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I met some members of the 1980 Olympic swim team. They were so happy and excited that all their hard work and sacrifice was leading to fulfilling their lifelong dreams. Then the US pulled out. Some of them never made it back on future teams. All for a political statement that had nothing to do with them.

    Dashing the hopes and dreams of American Olympic athletes, some of whom are LBTGQ, will not do any good. It will just up the medal count for Russia.

  54. 54.

    Thursday

    December 18, 2013 at 2:06 pm

    Side note: the delegation from the previous host city – Vancouver – includes openly gay city councillor and deputy mayor Tim Stevenson. They were considering a boycott, but decided instead it was a better option to simply show someone who was, well, normal. People voted for him because he could do his job, not because he was gay.

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