The fiery debate about Russia’s controversial anti-gay policies has been fuelled once more, as Russian athletes Kseniya Ryzhova and Tatyana Firov played “Spin The Baton” and shared a kiss on the podium after winning the 4 x 400 metre relay at the World Athletic Championships in Moscow.
While neither runner has commented publicly, the smooch sparked a debate about whether Ryzhova and Firov were protesting their country’s attitudes to same-sex relationships in the lead up to next year’s Winter Olympics, to be held in the city of Sochi in February. Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993, but their Parliament passed a law in June which bans “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations”. The details are vague, but the law effectively penalises anyone thought to be representing “non-traditional” sexual relationships in a positive light.
The kiss came a day after the fabulous Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko made comments regarding the international reaction to Russia’s propa-gay-nda law, blaming Western media for blowing the issue out of proportion. “I think this is kind of an invented problem,” he told reporters during a press conference. “We don’t have a law banning non-traditional sexual relations, we have a different law. We want to protect our children whose psyches have not formed from the propaganda of drug use, drunkenness and non-traditional sexual relations.”
Comedian/Author/Actor/Legend Stephen Fry published an open letter to David Cameron and the International Olympic Committee last week, expressing his distaste for the Russian parliamentary ruling, and boldly stating “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.”
This could be the final nail in the coffin for our “Reform t.A.T.u. for the Olympics Opening Ceremony” campaign
Via news.com.au. Photo: Paul Gilham for Getty Images
