THEGAYUK

Tag: Winter Olympics

All the latest breaking news on the Winter Olympics. Browse THEGAYUK’s complete collection of news, articles and commentary on the Winter Olympics.

  • UK Government does not support Sochi boycott

    Foreign Office rules out Government supported boycott of the Russian Winter Olympics in Sochi.

    In an email received from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) by petitioners who asked the Government, to make a political statement to the Russian Government about their anti-gay laws, by officially boycotting the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, has said it ‘does not support a boycott.’

    Over 13,000 people have signed the petition that was created by Sean Robertson earlier in the year.

    In June President Putin signed into law, a bill that could see anyone discussing homosexual relationships to anyone under the age of 18 sentenced to a prison term or fined.

    In September the Russian Government moved one step closer to introducing a bill that would remove children from gay parents.

    The statement from the FCO reads:

    As this e-petition has received more than 10 000 signatures, the relevant Government department have provided the following response:

    ‘The Government wants to see an open and inclusive games at the 2014 Russian Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi, but we do not support a boycott. The Prime Minister believes we have a better chance of influencing Russia by engaging and challenging prejudices than by boycotting.

    ‘We share concerns about changes to the law in Russia prohibiting the promotion of “non-traditional sexual relations” to minors. In effect, the law could prevent the LGBT community in Russia from fully enjoying the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The Prime Minister set out these concerns with President Putin in a meeting in St Petersburg on 6 September, making clear the strength of feeling in the UK and that it was in Russia’s interests to tackle discrimination.

    ‘British officials at all levels have been lobbying on the LGBT law since the first regional “homosexual propaganda” law was tabled. As well as raising the subject in bilateral meetings, we have actively supported LGBT issues in Russia for some years, including through involvement in the annual Queerfest in St Petersburg and funding for the Side-by-Side LGBT film festival held across Russia.

    ‘More broadly, we regularly make clear to Russia that human rights are universal and should apply equally to all people, as part of our overall engagement on human rights with the Russian authorities, including at the 2013 UK-Russia Human Rights dialogue in May and in the Foreign Secretary and Minister for Europe’s regular discussions with their Russian counterparts.

    ‘We have updated our travel advice for Russia to inform British Nationals of the new LGBT law. We review this advice regularly and will update further as necessary. We are committed to providing a modern and efficient consular service for visitors to Sochi.

    ‘Human rights will continue to be a central part of the UK-Russia relationship and we will continue to raise our concerns and encourage Russia to tackle discrimination and homophobia.

    ‘This e-petition remains open to signatures and will be considered for debate by the Backbench Business Committee should it pass the 100 000 signature threshold’

    The petition is still open and the deadline is 15th January 2014. If you wish to sign it click here.

  • Stephen Fry: “Athletes Should Find A Symbol” For LGBT Russians

    Broadcaster Stephen Fry has called on athletes in the Russian Sochi Winter Olympics to find a symbol to show ‘solidarity’ with gay Russians.

    Openly gay writer, presenter and broadcaster Stephen Fry calls upon athletes who take part in the Sochi Winter Olympics to find a symbol to show solidarity with Russian LGBTs.

    During an interview with the BBC Fry said that at the end of competitors’ games, they should stand up and adopt a cross armed pose to show their support and that they ‘are thinking about the gay people of Russian who are being tormented and brutalised everyday.’

    In June, President Putin signed into law a bill that could see both nationals and international visitors promoting “non-traditional relationships” to anyone under 18 face hefty fines and prison.

    Lord Coe and the Prime Minister David Cameron have reacted to an open letter from broadcaster Stephen Fry calling for the boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014. In the letter Fry compare the situation in Russia to the decision to host the 1936 Olympic games in Nazi Germany and that President Putin: ‘is making scapegoats of gay people’, adding that: ‘an absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential’.

  • Lord Coe: “I Am Against Boycotts”

    PM David Cameron and Lord Coe are against boycotting Russia’s Sochi Winter Games, despite grassroot calls to challenge Russia on its anti-gay laws.

    Lord Coe and the Prime Minister David Cameron have reacted to an open letter from broadcaster Stephen Fry calling for the boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014. In the letter Fry compared the situation in Russia to the decision to host the 1936 Olympic games in Nazi Germany and that President Putin: ‘is making scapegoats of gay people’, adding that: ‘an absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 in Sochi is simply essential’.

    In June, President Putin signed into law a bill that could see both nationals and international visitors promoting “non-traditional relationships” to anyone under 18 face hefty fines and prison sentences.

    The anti-gay law has pulled Russia’s violations against LGBTs into the spotlight, culminating in several boycott actions and numerous petitions.

    In a reply via Twitter PM David Cameron wrote:

    ‘Thank you for your note @stephenfry,’ he posted on Twitter.

    ‘I share your deep concern about the abuse of gay people in Russia.
    ‘I believe we can better challenge prejudice as we attend, rather than boycotting the Winter Olympics.’

    Meanwhile, according to SportingLife.com, Lord Coe, the vice president of international athletics’ governing body IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) said:

    ‘I am against boycotts,

    ‘I don’t think they achieve what they set out to do. They only damage one group of people and that is the athletes.

    ‘I am a profound believer that international sports and relationships developed through international sport are often in the infancy of social change.

    ‘I believe that coming to Moscow in 1980 was the right thing to do and 10 years later we see those changes.

    ‘International sport is not an inhibitor of social change, it actually has quite strong catalytic effects.

    ‘It is an issue that needs to be addressed but not an issue that is one of a boycott.’

    The president of the IAAF told reporters on Thursday that the anti-gay laws were ‘no problem whatsoever,’ going on to say that,

    “This law has to be respected. We are here for the World Championships and have no problem whatsoever and I’m not worried at all.”

    Their remarks come days after the news that a gay teen who was lured into a tortured trap by Neo Nazis in Russia, had allegedly died from his injuries.

    Anti-gay neo Nazi groups have been created online dating profiles on Russian social network VK.com in order to publically out and abuse gay teens.

    Hundreds of people lined the streets around Downing Street today to protest against the Russian Embassy.

  • Stephen Fry: Open Letter To The Prime Minister and International Olympic Committee

    An open letter to the Prime Minister, David Cameron and to members of the International Olympic Committee from Stephen Fry has gone viral over the internet, crashing Stephen Fry’s own website.

    The letter reads,

     

    Dear Prime Minister, M Rogge, Lord Coe and Members of the International Olympic Committee,

    I write in the earnest hope that all those with a love of sport and the Olympic spirit will consider the stain on the Five Rings that occurred when the 1936 Berlin Olympics proceeded under the exultant aegis of a tyrant who had passed into law, two years earlier, an act which singled out for special persecution a minority whose only crime was the accident of their birth. In his case he banned Jews from academic tenure or public office, he made sure that the police turned a blind eye to any beatings, thefts or humiliations afflicted on them, he burned and banned books written by them. He claimed they “polluted” the purity and tradition of what it was to be German, that they were a threat to the state, to the children and the future of the Reich. He blamed them simultaneously for the mutually exclusive crimes of Communism and for the controlling of international capital and banks. He blamed them for ruining the culture with their liberalism and difference. The Olympic movement at that time paid precisely no attention to this evil and proceeded with the notorious Berlin Olympiad, which provided a stage for a gleeful Führer and only increased his status at home and abroad. It gave him confidence. All historians are agreed on that. What he did with that confidence we all know.

    Putin is eerily repeating this insane crime, only this time against LGBT Russians. Beatings, murders and humiliations are ignored by the police. Any defence or sane discussion of homosexuality is against the law. Any statement, for example, that Tchaikovsky was gay and that his art and life reflects this sexuality and are an inspiration to other gay artists would be punishable by imprisonment. It is simply not enough to say that gay Olympians may or may not be safe in their village. The IOC absolutely must take a firm stance on behalf of the shared humanity it is supposed to represent against the barbaric, fascist law that Putin has pushed through the Duma. Let us not forget that Olympic events used not only to be athletic, they used to include cultural competitions. Let us realise that in fact, sport is cultural. It does not exist in a bubble outside society or politics. The idea that sport and politics don’t connect is worse than disingenuous, worse than stupid. It is wickedly, wilfully wrong. Everyone knows politics interconnects with everything for “politics” is simply the Greek for “to do with the people”.

    An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Stage them elsewhere in Utah, Lillehammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world.

    He is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews. He cannot be allowed to get away with it. I know whereof I speak. I have visited Russia, stood up to the political deputy who introduced the first of these laws, in his city of St Petersburg. I looked into the face of the man and, on camera, tried to reason with him, counter him, make him understand what he was doing. All I saw reflected back at me was what Hannah Arendt called, so memorably, “the banality of evil.” A stupid man, but like so many tyrants, one with an instinct of how to exploit a disaffected people by finding scapegoats. Putin may not be quite as oafish and stupid as Deputy Milanov but his instincts are the same. He may claim that the “values” of Russia are not the “values” of the West, but this is absolutely in opposition to Peter the Great’s philosophy, and against the hopes of millions of Russians, those not in the grip of that toxic mix of shaven headed thuggery and bigoted religion, those who are agonised by the rolling back of democracy and the formation of a new autocracy in the motherland that has suffered so much (and whose music, literature and drama, incidentally I love so passionately).

    I am gay. I am a Jew. My mother lost over a dozen of her family to Hitler’s anti-Semitism. Every time in Russia (and it is constantly) a gay teenager is forced into suicide, a lesbian “correctively” raped, gay men and women beaten to death by neo-Nazi thugs while the Russian police stand idly by, the world is diminished and I for one, weep anew at seeing history repeat itself.

    “All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,” so wrote Edmund Burke. Are you, the men and women of the IOC going to be those “good” who allow evil to triumph?

    The Summer Olympics of 2012 were one of the most glorious moments of my life and the life of my country. For there to be a Russian Winter Olympics would stain the movement forever and wipe away any of that glory. The Five Rings would finally be forever smeared, besmirched and ruined in the eyes of the civilised world.

    I am begging you to resist the pressures of pragmatism, of money, of the oily cowardice of diplomats and to stand up resolutely and proudly for humanity the world over, as your movement is pledged to do. Wave your Olympic flag with pride as we gay men and women wave our Rainbow flag with pride. Be brave enough to live up to the oaths and protocols of your movement, which I remind you of verbatim below.

    Rule four: Cooperate with the competent public or private organisations and authorities in the endeavour to place sport at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace.

    Rule six: Act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement.

    Rule 15: Encourage and support initiatives blending sport with culture and education.

    I especially appeal to you, Prime Minister, a man for whom I have the utmost respect. As the leader of a party I have for almost all of my life opposed and instinctively disliked, you showed a determined, passionate and clearly honest commitment to LGBT rights and helped push gay marriage through both houses of our parliament in the teeth of vehement opposition from so many of your own side. For that I will always admire you, whatever other differences may lie between us. In the end I believe you know when a thing is wrong or right. Please act on that instinct now.

    Yours in desperate hope for humanity

    Stephen Fry

     

    This post first appeared on www.stephenfry.com

  • New petition urges TEAM GB to wear rainbow flags

    A petition has been created to ask members of Team GB to wear rainbow colours in solidarity with Russian LGBTs.

    • Petition calls for Olympians to wear rainbow colours at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.
    • Petition goes live as many bars across the world continue to boycott Russian produced vodka
    • Petitioners hope for Olympians to speak out against human rights violations.

    The petition hosted at Change.org is asking members of Team GB to wear rainbow colours at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, because ‘Russia are [sic] acting against human rights.’

    The petition that was created by Jade Rayment of Cardiff, has already attracted 227 supporters within days of it going live.

    In June, President Putin signed into law a bill that could see citizens promoting “non-traditional relationships” to anyone under 18 face hefty fines and prison.

    The UK Government has updated its advice for LGBT Travellers to Russia, after TheGayUK contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

    The law has been criticised widely as a countrywide crackdown on Russia’s LGBT community.

    The worldwide LGBT community has responded in a number of ways including petitions and a boycott on Russian produced vodka.

    Last week every gay bar in Leeds committed to boycotting Russian produced vodka just in time for Leeds Pride weekend.

    The petition:

    As UK citizens we enjoy a quality of life that few other places in the world can appreciate. This is our privilege, and one of the many reasons that a life elsewhere is so coveted; we enjoy many rights and freedoms that are easy to take for granted.
    The Winter Olympics has always been a time to shine. We all get excited when we watch our countries compete on a world stage in the sports we excel at best. They are a great teaching tool to teach kids about different nations and cultures, and there’s always a special thrill of excitement and national pride when the games come.
    Russia, the next site for the Olympic Winter Games in 2014, is committing some horrible human rights violations. We cannot turn a blind eye to the plight of not only Russian citizens, but those citizens of other nations that are endangered by the anti-LGBT laws that have been created in this part of the world. We need to stand up and put pressure on them to change.
    This not intended to punish the athletes who have worked hard for this opportunity. It is our hope that all Olympians will stand with us and speak out against these violations, and let the world know that we cannot in good conscience Stand by and allow such atrocities, stand with us, be proud.

    To sign the petition click here

  • Russia boycott petition goes live

    A petition to boycott the Russian Winter Olympics has been created on the official UK Government’s website.

    A petition has gone live calling for the boycott of Russia’s Winter Olympics in 2014.

    The petition reads:

    Boycott 2014 Winter Olympics

    Responsible department: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    With the increasingly homophobic stance being taken by the Russian government and parliament, including calls to arrest LGBT tourists. I call upon the UK Government to strongly advise the British Olympic Association to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

    The petition has already garnered over 3,500 signatures.

    To sign the petition click here