Right Field

Putin Speaks on Gays and the Olympics

Reuters:

Russia is not “going after” gays, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, defending a ban on “propaganda of homosexuality” that has brought criticism from the West ahead of the Winter Olympics.

The Kremlin hopes the games, starting on Feb. 7 in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea, will showcase Russia’s modern face more than two decades after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Putin has identified himself closely with the $50-billion event.

But Russia last year upset the West and human rights activists by banning what it called the promotion of homosexuality among minors. Calls for a mass boycott of the games have failed, but the row has clouded the build-up to the event.

Critics say the law is discriminatory and part of a rolling back of human rights and democratic freedoms under Putin, who has taken a more conservative course on social issues since returning to the presidency in mid-2012.

“There is no ban on non-traditional forms of sexual interaction between people. We have a ban on propaganda of homosexuality,” Putin told a meeting with young volunteers preparing for the games.

“We ban nothing, we aren’t going after anyone, we have no responsibility for such contacts.”

Putin said some U.S. states had laws envisaging criminal responsibility for gay sexual intercourse.

“We have no such thing, people can feel free and at ease but please leave the children in peace,” he said.

The rest here. 

As much as the media is focusing on this issue, I think the very real threat of a terrorist attack at the games is the greater story.

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