In the wake of the current Winter Olympic Games I have been trying to persuade people not to watch them. A lot of the friends I speak to agree with me and are not watching any of the events. There was however, a number of people to whom I spoke, who were confused as to why I was trying to prevent them from the pleasure of watching some figure skater from some obscure country of which they have never heard about up until this evening. These people were indeed oblivious about the challenges that the LGBT community has been encountering in Russia (this year’s Olympic host). But fighting this sort of ignorance is not what led me to write this article. It was the other group, the group of apathy. Those who new about the atrocities and yet believed through ignorance or sheer apathy, that the Olympic Games have nothing to do with what is currently going on in Russia. They hide behind the impotence card: “Oh well…we can’t really change anything” or “this has nothing to do with sports” or even worse “What I do from over here will make no difference”. It is in this sort of apathetic disposition where the problem lies. What if I told you that the ban of LGBT rights is completely relevant to the Olympic Games and that you can in fact effect some sort of change? What if you realized that you can indeed make a difference? And to those people who claim that this doesn’t affect them, IT DOES! This affects all of us and not just the LGBT community, and this is why we all have the responsibility to cry out when injustice has taken place and give voice to those who have been silenced.
First let me explain why the Sochi games are completely relevant to the current situation in Russia. The International Olympic Committee has amongst its core responsibilities:
A)”To encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport as well as education of youth through sport and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails and violence is banned”
Russian law criminalizes any sort of sexual education that is not deemed traditional. Teenagers who may begin to realize that they may be homosexual, have no way to reach for support or even find information on the subject, because anyone who offers this sort of information is breaking the law. Furthermore, any form of protest against this law is deemed as propaganda and is soon stopped by the authorities.
B)”To cooperate with the competent public or private organizations and authorities in the endeavour to place sport at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace”
It is difficult to see how peace is achieved by silencing a minority and yet allowing discriminatory violent associations like “Occupy Paedophilia” to roam free while they threaten, abuse, rape, torture and even kill young homosexuals. All because according to the authorities “They are only hunting paedophiles”. While all this takes place, the rest of the world is focused on Evgeni Plushenko’s tripple axel.
C)”To act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement”
Sure, let us not discriminate, but to all gay people visiting our home “please stay away from the children” were the words of Putin three weeks before the opening of the Sochi games.
http://www.olympic.org/about-ioc-institution
Homosexuality and Paedophilia are not the same thing. I am yet to find anyone who openly argues in favour of Paedophilia. Homosexuals in Russia are often accused of being paedophiles and a danger to society. Paedophilia and Homosexuality are often used interchangeably in the Russian media. The only thing achieved by this law is the promotion of ignorance and brutality fuelled by intolerance.
If you are a straight person living outside of Russia you may still wonder how exactly does this affect you. So I ask you: Do you know any gay people? Could a member of your family be gay? The answer is yes. There is still a lot of research missing on why some people are gay and others are straight. Homosexuality is not a choice, is not a fashion and is not something you can cure or “Pray” away. No one can predict who is going to be gay and who is not. Furthermore, no one chooses to be gay, just like no one chooses to be born a man or a woman, to have blue eyes or dark skin, to be tall or short. Everyone has to accept the characteristics that define them as a person. In this view homophobia is no different from racism and sexism. If you are a woman, you should be very aware of the places to which homophobic tendencies may lead. More often than not, people who are homophobic promote strictly defined gender roles. The man has to be manly, powerful, strong, protector and provider; the woman has to be virtuous, gentle, feminine, maternal and submissive. Before long, not only homosexual propaganda will be banned, but feminist propaganda as well. How long before they begin to ban or judge sex before marriage or make abortion illegal once more? How long before they see divorce as an aberration and an action against God’s will. After all according to the Russian Orthodox Church, homosexuality is a degenerate choice of life and a sin. It does not take much of a stretch to see how one ban may lead to many others, all in the name of virtue, godliness and most importantly, to protect the children by preventing them from learning about anything other than the righteous path.
The Russian law against homosexual propaganda will not end there, things are about to get even worse for the LGBT community. There are discussions of passing a law that allows the authorities to remove children from same sex families and preventing same sex couples from adopting children. Same sex couples from around the world will also be prevented from adopting Russian children.
Russian homophobic tendencies are focusing in more than education. It begins with identification, criminalization, how long before they move to extermination? Does this sound a little Nazi to you?
Even if after all this you think your opinion won’t make a difference I implore you, do not be complaisant. There is nothing to loose and everything to gain from where we are standing. Thirty years ago homosexuality in Britain was a crime, over the last two decades, activists and protestors have little by little gained rights for the gay community, from the decriminalization of homosexuality, to the legislation of same sex marriage. We have come a long way, but all that has only happened because people have complained and demonstrated that we can be better.
What can you do?
There are loads of ways you can show your support:
• Phone/Email/Visit the Russian Embassy – if in Edinburgh: http://www.rusemb.org.uk/contactgenconsulate, otherwise http://www.rusemblon.org
• Lobby your local MP/MSP to have them take your concerns to the parliament at Question Time or write to appropriate ministers.
• Participate in local demonstrations.
But most importantly, share information via Social Networks to friends and family. Let us fight the ignorance and show our support.
This article says it all. I am in complete agreement with every word.
Well said. Makes me glad to live in such a (comparatively)tolerant and open-minded society!
Straight up! This is indeed an idea worth spreading, apathy is a cancer that is consuming modern civilization, equal rights for everyone is the way that historically we are running towards, it is the way to keep balance.