On June
30th of this year, Vladimir Putin signed an ‘anti-homosexual propaganda’ bill
into law. The bill imposes jail terms and fines of up to 200,000 rubles for
those found guilty of disseminating propaganda that may cause a ‘distorted
understanding’ that gay and heterosexual relations are ‘socially equivalent’.
This bill has already sparked bullying, vigilante violence and even murder
targeted towards LGBT people – especially teens across Russia.
An
alarming dilemma facing the world is the upcoming winter Olympics that are to
be held in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. The new laws apply to both tourists and
athletes who will be attending the Olympics in Sochi.
The three
Olympic values are “Friendship, Respect and Excellence” – along with the four
Paralympic values; “Determination, Inspiration, Courage and Equality’. The IOC
values document goes further to define equality: ‘Everyone has basic rights and
emotional needs, no matter whether we have disabilities or belong to a different
race, religion or sexuality. We uphold the idea of commonality and sameness
although we are all different.”
The new
Russian law and the Olympic values are at complete odds with one another. Does
sending LGBT athletes to Sochi, Russia put them at risk? Is there anything we
can do?
Unless you
happen to work for the IOC or the Russian government, there’s not a great deal
you can do directly. Would personal activism or collective activism stand a
chance of making an impact?
What would
hurt those in power is the potential international embarrassment of having a
prestigious event such as the Winter Olympics either taken from them and
awarded to another country, of falling flat on its face due to a widespread
athlete and tourist boycott. Both would be a disaster for Russia, a fiercely
proud nation. The fact is that without outside pressure, Russia will be in no
rush to repeal the repellent homophobic laws that they’ve just instated.
It is
entirely understandable that some people are clamoring for a boycott of the
2014 Winter Olympics, given the horrific events unfolding in Russia. However,
the reality is that a boycott would have very little impact beyond depriving
athletes of an opportunity to compete. For a boycott to have any meaningful
impact, it would necessitate the participation of a large proportion of competing
nations. It is unlikely that more socially conservative countries would take
such a strong stand for LGBT rights. What you would be left with in the
aftermath of a half-hearted boycott would be a raft of disappointed athletes
and very little progress in the fight back against the oppression perpetrated
by the Russian government.
Nikolai
Alekseev, the public face of Russian LGBT activism, has decided to organize Sochi Pride to coincide with the event.
This is a highly risky course of action, given the latest legislation imposing
a federal ban of Pride rallies. However, it is also an extremely clever idea.
After all, even if we assume that Putin is not genuine when he promises that
the “anti-gay propaganda bill’ will not apply to visiting delegations to the
games, it will leave the Kremlin in an incredibly difficult position with
little room for maneuver in a situation when international activists join local
campaigners to march for an end to the madness. Arresting scores of activists
from all over the world would be nothing short of a PR disaster for Putin and
the Russian government.
You could
also argue that a far more effective way forward would be for the athletes to
stage a protest at the games themselves. While it is a universally accepted
notion that the lines between politics and sport should not be blurred, it is
perhaps worth asking whether the dire situation in Russia nullifies that
principle.
The
International Olympic Committee has spoken out, saying it has received
assurances from the “highest level” of Russian government that athletes and
spectators will be exempt from the anti-gay legislation. There is growing
support that the Olympics should not be used as a political statement. It will
be interesting to see how this situation plays out with the current climate in
the world of emerging support for the human rights of LGBTs.
