W T F? It is hard to believe that any international event can be allowed to be held in such a xenophobic racist and homophobic country. never mind the Olympics http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/06/2...llowing-gays-to-be-whipped-in-public-squares/ Alexander Mikhailov is deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Trans-Baikal Parliament and said he plans to put forward the violent proposal as a new regional law. Speaking to the Chita news agency on Thursday, Mr Mikhailov linked gay people to *****philes and suggested they should be whipped in public squares by “marines”. He described homosexuality as a “common shame”. Referencing a doctor, who criticised the decision of several European countries to legalise marriage rights for same-sex couples, Mr Mikhailov praised the doctor and reportedly said: “We have to deal with such things”. He added that his province should adopt a law in which the marines have the right to flog the “asses” of gay people. “In Russia for many centuries the ass was used for educational purposes and not for love entertainment. So we should use it according to its intended purpose,” the MP said. Last week, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Russian MPs for passing a draconian homophobic censorship law. Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin said he would back a ban on foreign same-sex couples from adopting Russian children, but denied it amounts to homophobic discrimination.
An Open Letter to David Cameron and the IOC By Stephen Fry August 7th, 2013 Dear Prime Minister, M Rogge, Lord Coe and Members of the International Olympic Committee, I write in the earnest hope that all those with a love of sport and the Olympic spirit will consider the stain on the Five Rings that occurred when the 1936 Berlin Olympics proceeded under the exultant aegis of a tyrant who had passed into law, two years earlier, an act which singled out for special persecution a minority whose only crime was the accident of their birth. In his case he banned Jews from academic tenure or public office, he made sure that the police turned a blind eye to any beatings, thefts or humiliations afflicted on them, he burned and banned books written by them. He claimed they “polluted” the purity and tradition of what it was to be German, that they were a threat to the state, to the children and the future of the Reich. He blamed them simultaneously for the mutually exclusive crimes of Communism and for the controlling of international capital and banks. He blamed them for ruining the culture with their liberalism and difference. The Olympic movement at that time paid precisely no attention to this evil and proceeded with the notorious Berlin Olympiad, which provided a stage for a gleeful Führer and only increased his status at home and abroad. It gave him confidence. All historians are agreed on that. What he did with that confidence we all know. Putin is eerily repeating this insane crime, only this time against LGBT Russians. Beatings, murders and humiliations are ignored by the police. Any defence or sane discussion of homosexuality is against the law. Any statement, for example, that Tchaikovsky was gay and that his art and life reflects this sexuality and are an inspiration to other gay artists would be punishable by imprisonment. It is simply not enough to say that gay Olympians may or may not be safe in their village. The IOC absolutely must take a firm stance on behalf of the shared humanity it is supposed to represent against the barbaric, fascist law that Putin has pushed through the Duma. Let us not forget that Olympic events used not only to be athletic, they used to include cultural competitions. Let us realise that in fact, sport is cultural. It does not exist in a bubble outside society or politics. The idea that sport and politics don’t connect is worse than disingenuous, worse than stupid. It is wickedly, wilfully wrong. Everyone knows politics interconnects with everything for “politics” is simply the Greek for “to do with the people”. An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Stage them elsewhere in Utah, Lillyhammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world. He is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews. He cannot be allowed to get away with it. I know whereof I speak. I have visited Russia, stood up to the political deputy who introduced the first of these laws, in his city of St Petersburg. I looked into the face of the man and, on camera, tried to reason with him, counter him, make him understand what he was doing. All I saw reflected back at me was what Hannah Arendt called, so memorably, “the banality of evil.” A stupid man, but like so many tyrants, one with an instinct of how to exploit a disaffected people by finding scapegoats. Putin may not be quite as oafish and stupid as Deputy Milonov but his instincts are the same. He may claim that the “values” of Russia are not the “values” of the West, but this is absolutely in opposition to Peter the Great’s philosophy, and against the hopes of millions of Russians, those not in the grip of that toxic mix of shaven headed thuggery and bigoted religion, those who are agonised by the rolling back of democracy and the formation of a new autocracy in the motherland that has suffered so much (and whose music, literature and drama, incidentally I love so passionately). I am gay. I am a Jew. My mother lost over a dozen of her family to Hitler’s anti-Semitism. Every time in Russia (and it is constantly) a gay teenager is forced into suicide, a lesbian “correctively” raped, gay men and women beaten to death by neo-Nazi thugs while the Russian police stand idly by, the world is diminished and I for one, weep anew at seeing history repeat itself. - See more at: http://www.stephenfry.com/2013/08/0...vid-cameron-and-the-ioc/#sthash.kznH6gVH.dpuf
Wow, did Russia time travel to the 1500s? Can't believe the quote from the MP! Actually thought this was a wind up at first, is it?
Don't hold out for much hope Mr Fry, the Olympics in China was allowed to go ahead despite poor bastards coming home from some grocery shopping to find their homes demolished along with all their possessions while they were out so facilities required for the Olympics could be built where their homes once stood.
I was working in Leeds on Sunday and after a gay pride event there were a few drag queens whipping each other on the station concourse. They did seem to enjoy it. just an observation. To wind up this ****, Russian gays should deluge him with offers to be whipped. Ridicule is more effective than outrage.
Indeed Anyone remember Putin parading around bare chested on a horse to make him look "manly". It was pure Brokeback style. I think he protesteth too much. I bet Fry had a little chuckle about writing the phrase "a stain on the Olympic rings". Brilliant letter though and I hope he gets some results. Putin is a dangerous man.
You obviously don't get Russian mentality, Ridicule just gets the crap knocked out of you, any ridicule from abroad is just used as propaganda to show how wrong and evil westerners are and turn it into an assault by the west on their wholesome values and the very motherland its self If the Russians and Putin and his cronies really cared what people outside Russia thought Russia would be a different country altogether.
I think "a stain on the five rings" was an unfortunate turn of phrase under the circumstances. Seriously; it's a tricky one. Moral and cultural differences exist throughout the world whether we like it or not, and whilst it's difficult to stand by and watch people being denied basic human rights, a solution is far from simple. To just say to them "you're wrong and we're going to put you to rights" will only be seen as an attack on their culture and make them dig their heels in. Morality exists in a cultural and chronological context and is not an absolute truth. If we think we can make everyone else "see the light" we just end up going down the route of the USA's efforts to "democratise" cultures that have no history of the concept. Ostracising them politically may bring us satisfaction but we all know realpolitik rules the world and the west would never risk alienating powerful countries such as Russia or China for fear of upsetting the balance of power. All that's left really, is to frown and make the odd gesture of admonishment in their direction and wait for the day when the whole world shares a moral consensus. That's obviously a long way off, but will only happen if we continue to communicate across cultural boundaries- isolating them will have the opposite effect.
Isolating South Africa (from a sporting perspective) certainly helped to highlight the scandal of apartheid. If only Maggie hadn't let "realpolitik" and her own fascist tendencies rule our policies in the 80s the disgusting apartheid regime may well have crumbled a lot quicker.
Fair point mate but do we just roll over and let them continue to "stain our rings"? I like to think we can bring a certain shame to these ****wits.
As Stephen Fry pointed out, Hitler did a similar thing. Surely the rings are stained enough, already? It would be nice to do what we did to South Africa, but TBH Russia are massively different to SA in global politics - Saint makes a very valid point!
In similar (but football related) bigotry news, ex-Chelsea failure Mateja Kežman had this to say about a variety of Dutch football stars participating in Amsterdam's Gay Pride event: "Surely it’s not up to me to tell [Louis Van Gaal] he made ​​a mistake, but if you ask me about the subject [of homosexuality], I have a problem with it. My opinion is that this is a disease that should not be promoted and I wouldn’t like if the Football Association of Serbia decided one day support the gay parade in this country. The Dutch are moving away from Jesus Christ and are heading towards spiritual destruction." What a prick.
