BRITAIN: Activists Crash Coke Event

Anna Leach reports at Gay Star News:

Protestors gate-crashed a Coca-Cola Christmas PR stunt in London's Covent Garden today, in opposition to the global brand's sponsorship of the Sochi Olympics. The gay rights activists, including Peter Tatchell, tried to climb on the roof of the Coca-Cola truck parked in the center of London on one of the busiest Christmas shopping days. They were pulled down by security guards. 'Coke is sponsoring the Sochi Winter Olympics, without even a murmur of unease at the anti-gay and repressive policies of the Putin government. It is shameful acquiescence with oppression,' said Tatchell, coordinator of the protest.

Coke has issued a statement: "We have long been a strong supporter of the LGBT community and have advocated for inclusion and diversity through both our policies and practices. We do not condone intolerance or discrimination of any kind anywhere in the world. We believe a more positive impact can be made through continued involvement [in the Olympics], rather than by sitting on the sidelines."

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Posted in: advertising,Britain,Coca-Cola,LGBT rights,Peter Tatchell,Russia,Sochi Olympics

Billie Jean King: Our Sochi Olympics Delegation Might Wave Rainbow Flags

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Billie Jean King said that the US Sochi delegation might wave rainbow flags.

“Maybe we should wave rainbow flags or something, I don’t know,” she said, drawing an analogy to the Black Power salute – a raised fist – given by two American athletes at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. “As long as we’re not being malicious,” she said, “we can show our feelings.” President Obama named the former tennis champion, who is gay, to the American delegation at the Olympics earlier this week. “I'm very proud to go as an athlete, and as a gay woman,” she said. “I'm thrilled.” Russia’s hosting of the Olympics has been surrounded by controversy in large measure because of a law enacted earlier this year banning gay “propaganda,” which has contributed to many gay Russians fleeing the country. “I'm not real big on boycotting,” King told Amanpour. “It has to be absolutely a last resort.”

King went on to hope that she is provided "good security."

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Posted in: Billie Jean King,gay athletes,Russia,Sochi Olympics

Brian Boitano Comes Out

Days after being named to the Obama administration's Sochi delegation, Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano has finally acknowledged that he is gay. Via USA Today:

Boitano's announcement comes two days after he was named by President Obama to the opening ceremony delegation that also includes Billie Jean King, the tennis legend who is openly gay. Boitano, 50, declined to discuss his sexuality in an interview for the book Inside Edge in 1995. Two-time U.S. ice hockey Olympic medalist Caitlin Cahow, who also is openly gay, was named to the closing ceremony delegation. Their presence in the delegations has been viewed as a strong message from Obama against Russia's anti-gay propaganda law.

Here's a portion of Boitano's statement:

It is my desire to be defined by my achievements and my contributions. While I am proud to play a public role in representing the American Olympic Delegation as a former Olympic athlete, I have always reserved my private life for my family and friends and will continue to do so. I am many things: a son, a brother, and uncle, a friend, an athlete, a cook, an author, and being gay is just one part of who I am. First and foremost I am an American athlete and I am proud to live in a country that encourages diversity, openness and tolerance. As an athlete, I hope we can remain focused on the Olympic spirit which celebrates achievement in sport by peoples of all nations.

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Posted in: Brian Boitano,coming out,gay athletes,Sochi Olympics

HomoQuotable - Caitlin Cahow

"It's obviously a statement that's being made, but I think it's an incredibly respectful one. Basically, the White House is highlighting Americans who know what it means to have freedoms and liberties under the constitution. That's really what we're representing in Sochi and it's not at all different from what's espoused in the spirit of Olympism. So I think it's just a great group of people. I can't believe I've been named one of them because it's a remarkable roster and I just think that we're going to represent what the best America can be. Hopefully, it will unify all of Team USA and send a message of love and acceptance to the world." - Openly gay Olympic silver medalist Caitlin Cahow, who will be part of the American delegation to the closing ceremonies of the Sochi Games.

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Posted in: Caitlin Cahow,gay athletes,HomoQuotable,LGBT rights,Obama administration,Russia,Sochi Olympics

White House Announces Sochi Delegation, Obamas & Bidens Will Not Attend

Via press release from the White House:

The Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russian Federation will be held on February 7, 2014. The delegation will attend athletic events, meet with U.S. athletes, and attend the Opening Ceremony. The Honorable Janet A. Napolitano, President of the University of California, will lead the delegation. The Honorable Michael A. McFaul, United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation. The Honorable Robert L. Nabors, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. The Honorable Billie Jean King, Member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, Member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mr. Brian A. Boitano, Olympic gold medalist, figure skating.

Neither of the Obamas, no Joe Biden, but a trio of gays. That's a message. Of course, neither Napolitano nor Boitano have actually come out. There will be lots of reading of the tea leaves for the next few days.

UPDATE: Via the Associated Press.

The Human Rights Campaign, one of the groups that wrote the White House last month asking Obama to include gays and lesbians in the delegation, applauded the unveiling of the delegation Tuesday. "It's a positive sign to see openly gay representatives in the delegation," said spokesman Michael Cole-Schwartz. "Hopefully it sends a message to the Russian people and the rest of the world that the United States values the civil and human rights of LGBT people." On other fronts, the 2014 delegation appears to be a step back from previous years, when the U.S. sent top-level administration officials to represent the U.S. at the Olympic ceremonies. First lady Michelle Obama led the delegation to the London Games in 2012, while Vice President Joe Biden headed the effort in 2010 in Vancouver. Obama's schedule will not permit him to attend the games in Sochi in February, the White House said.

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Posted in: Billie Jean King,Brian Boitano,Janet Napolitano,LGBT rights,Russia,Sochi Olympics

French President Won't Attend Sochi

French President Francois Hollande will not be attending the Sochi Olympics, but so far the French government hasn't given a reason. Via Buzzfeed:

“There are no plans to attend,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the station. “Top French officials have no plans to be there.” Fabius offered no explanation for the decision to ditch the games, according to Europe 1, which suggested it might be due to Russia’s controversial anti-LGBT “gay propaganda” ban. France’s Sports Minister Valérie Fourneyron expressed concerns about the law to her Russian counterpart in August. Hollande attended the Summer Games in London, along with a record number of other world leaders.

Buzzfeed notes that the White House has not yet announced whether the United States is sending an official delegation. The First Lady attended the Summer Games in London last year and that announcement came four months in advance. Last week the ceremonial president of Germany announced that he was boycotting Sochi over Russia's anti-gay pogrom.

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Posted in: France,Francois Hollande,Russia,Sochi Olympics

Greg Louganis: Sochi Athletes Should Publicly Thank Gay Supporters

Olympic legend Greg Louganis is opposed to a boycott of the Sochi Games, but he has an idea about how athletes could make a statement there without raising the ire of the IOC. Via USA Today:

Greg Louganis urged American Olympians on Friday to dedicate their performances at February's Sochi Games to their gay friends and relatives as a means of public but personal protest against Russian anti-gay laws. Louganis said as he understands the law, Olympic athletes in Sochi could potentially be in trouble for wearing rainbow pins in support of the LGBT movement. That, he said, is why he thinks athletes should publicly thank gay friends and relatives who have supported them in their road to the Olympics. "I don't see how the IOC can say anything about that, because it's personal, not political," Louganis said. "If you have a supportive aunt, uncle, cousin, friend who is gay, you don't win a gold medal by yourself. There is a team of people behind you. And to recognize those people is a way athletes can show their support of the LGBT community and what's going on in Russia."

Louganis says that he got hate mail from gay people after he first declared his opposition to a boycott.

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Posted in: gay athletes,Greg Louganis,Russia,Sochi Olympics

TODAY: Queer Nation To Protest At NBC

Queer Nation will today crash the holiday party for NBC staffers at a hotel in downtown New York City. They write:

This is the not at all inspiring tale of the International Olympic Committee and eleven of the top Olympic sponsors' Road to Sochi. This coalition of some of the biggest mega-corporations on Earth dutifully and unfortunately followed the lead of feckless IOC president Thomas Bach. They have made a collective agreement that the shining ideals of the Olympic charter are merely easily expendable platitudes if they ever threaten to interfere with the collecting of large wheel barrels full of Olympic profits. The result of the IOC and sponsors' inaction is the Olympic charters' hollow assurances of non-discrimination and respect for basic human rights have now been reduced to mere jive talk and many in the global LGBTQ community are not at all fooled by it.

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Posted in: activism,NBC,Queer Nation,Russia,Sochi Olympics

HomoQuotable - Nancy Goldstein

"NBC has been dodging attempts from activists to hold them accountable since the laws were enacted. A letter from the gay lobbying group Human Rights Campaign’s president asking NBC to include news of Russia's human-rights violations alongside their standard Olympics coverage elicited a mealy-mouthed response from the network, which said it would 'provide coverage of Russia's anti-gay laws if the controversial measures surface as an issue during the upcoming Winter Olympics.' As though the fact that Neo-Nazis keep luring gay men to hotel rooms by baiting them online, then kidnapping and torturing them and posting their videos online isn’t an issue at all so long as no queers are actually forced to drink their own urine in front of NBC’s cameras during the snowboarding finals." - Nancy Goldstein, writing for Prospect.

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Posted in: HomoQuotable,LGBT rights,Nancy Goldstein,NBC,Russia,Sochi Olympics,television,Vladimir Putin

HRC Slams Sochi Protest Zones

"Given the Russian government’s history of strong-arm authoritarian tactics, the existence of a protest zone is ironically rich. Olympic athletes should be free to speak their minds about the heinous nature of these laws. You don’t stop being human when you become an Olympian. It tells you a lot about President Bach and the IOC’s commitment to human rights that they believe this issue should be easily compartmentalized into a protest zone. The fact that these laws exist is an outrage. The fact that the IOC believes they should be the subject of a protest zone is an even bigger outrage." - Human Rights Campaign vice president Fred Sainz, speaking to Chris Geidner at Buzzfeed.

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Posted in: HRC,IOC,Russia,Sochi Olympics

Martina Navratilova & Jason Collins Call On Sporting Bodies To Respect LGBT Rights

Martina Navratilova and Jason Collins yesterday called on international sporting groups to respect LGBT rights. The pair spoke at a United Nations event marking International Human Rights Day.

They focused in part on the upcoming Winter Olympics in Russia, which passed a law this summer banning homosexual "propaganda." The law has drawn international condemnation and sparked calls for a boycott, though no nations have threatened to pull their athletes. Navratilova, who lost lucrative endorsements when she came out in 1981, said she doesn't support boycotts of any kind. But she said the IOC is "putting its head in the sand" and criticized FIFA, the world soccer body, for awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. "Nobody's talking about Qatar and the World Cup. You can get a jail term there," she said of consensual gay sex in the Persian Gulf nation. In six other countries, including Saudi Arabia, simply being gay is punishable by death, she said. "Gays and lesbians seem to be the last group it's seen as OK to pick on," she said.

Watch video here.

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Posted in: FIFA,gay athletes,Jason Collins,LGBT rights,Martina Navralitova,Qatar,Russia,Sochi Olympics

Russia To Create Protest Zones At Sochi

The International Olympic Committee today revealed that the Russia government will set up protest zones near the venues for the Sochi Olympics.

The announcement came during a news teleconference held by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. "This was under discussion with the IOC for quite some time," Bach said. "This is a measure we welcome so that everybody can express his or her opinion." Bach did not offer any details about the size or location of the zones. He said Russian officials have assured him protesters will not face negative consequences. "I think this is the purpose of these protest zones," Bach said. "This is what we’ve been discussing with Russian authorities."

A spokesman for All Out responded to today's news by renewing a demand that Bach denounce Russia's anti-gay laws.

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Posted in: IOC,LGBT rights,Russia,Sochi Olympics

EU Commissioner To Boycott Sochi

Yahoo News reports:

European Union commissioner Viviane Reding said she would not be attending the Sochi 2014 Olympics in February over what she said was Russia's treatment of minorities, joining German President Joachim Gauck in an open snub to the host nation. "I will certainly not go to Sochi as long as minorities are treated the way they are under the current Russian legislation," Reding, EU Commissioner for Justice, Citizenship and Fundamental Rights, said in a tweet on Tuesday. While it was unclear whether Reding had been invited or would have gone as an EU representative or a private citizen, her decision to openly oppose Russia's recent legislation was the most vocal statement by a politician to date.

Graphic via Memeographs.

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Posted in: European Union,LGBT rights,Russia,Sochi Olympics

Russian Politician Slams German President Over Decision To Boycott Sochi

Via the Guardian:

The German president has become the first major political figure to boycott the Sochi Winter Olympics in February. According to German weekly Der Spiegel, Joachim Gauck last week told the Kremlin of his decision, which is understood to be a response to the Russian government's violations of human rights and harassment of the opposition. The head of the Russian parliament's foreign delegation on Sunday criticised Gauck's decision. Alexey Pushkov tweeted: "The German president Gauck has not criticised the killing of children and women in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But he is so critical of Russia that he doesn't even want to travel to Sochi."

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Posted in: Germany,LGBT rights,Russia,Sochi Olympics

IOC Reminds Athletes: Don't Protest

The International Olympic Committee is crafting a letter that contains its final warning against athletes participating in any protests at the Sochi Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee executive board is expected to approve the instructions at its meeting in Lausanne on Tuesday. The letter will then be sent to the national Olympic committees that are sending athletes to the Sochi Games, which run from Feb. 7-23. The memo will focus on Rule 50 in the Olympic Charter, which states: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas." "We will give the background of the Rule 50, explaining the interpretation of the Rule 50 to make the athletes aware and to assure them that the athletes will be protected," IOC President Thomas Bach said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I know from my own experience, this is key," added Bach, a former Olympic fencer who won a team gold medal for West Germany in 1976. "As an athlete you do not want to be confronted in the Olympic Village or the Olympic Stadium with any kind of political controversies."

Athletes who so much as wear a rainbow pin could face expulsion from the Games or the loss of their medals. The IOC says that rule will be "interpreted and applied sensibly and proportionately."

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Posted in: IOC,LGBT rights,Russia,Sochi Olympics

German President To Boycott Sochi

German President Joachim Gauck has announced that he will not attend the Sochi Olympics in protests of Russia's anti-LGBT pogrom. ESPN reports:

Gauck took the decision to protest human rights violations and the harassment of Russian opposition political figures, Der Spiegel reported Sunday. The magazine said the Russian government was informed of his decision last week. Presidential spokeswoman Ferdos Forudastan confirmed the move to the dpa news agency on Sunday. Gauck's office could not immediately be reached for further confirmation. Forudastan told dpa that there was no set rule saying German presidents had to travel. Former president Horst Koehler did not travel to Vancouver for the Winter Games in 2010. The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) said on its website that Gauck had not been planning to visit to Sochi "according to our knowledge." DOSB director general Michael Vesper told dpa that "(someone) who doesn't travel doesn't automatically boycott something. It's certainly not directed against the German team." Gauck, an outspoken critic of Russia's human-rights record, is yet to visit the country since taking office in March 2012. A planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June 2012 fell through, apparently for scheduling reasons.

The presidency of Germany is largely a ceremonial position. Chancellor Angela Merkel, the actual head of the government, has spoken against any boycott of the Sochi Olympics. (Tipped by JMG reader Str8 Grandmother)

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Posted in: Germany,LGBT rights,Russia,Sochi Olympics