Olympic Committee threatens to punish athletes who fight for gay Russians

[tuvor]

Forget the Russian police, athletes who back gay rights during Sochi’s Winter Games may be punished by the Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee will likely stop any athlete who shows solidarity for LGBT Russians at the Sochi Games, GSN can reveal.

Gay Star News asked the global Olympic bosses what they were planning to do to ‘make sure the LGBT community in Russia can have a visible, proud, safe presence at the games’.

But the IOC replied the games were not the place for ‘political’ statements. Any participant who steps out of line may be punished, not by the Russians but by Olympic chiefs themselves.

...

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/olympic-committee-threatens-punish-athletes-who-fight-gay-russians120813

[atreides1]

1. Not the same as the Olympic Committee in the 1936 Games

These people are a bunch of gutless cowards...

[djean111]

2. They are strictly about the money - and will be very very brave about that.

[former9thward]

9. The 1936 Committee was not exactly courageous.

They excluded the only two Jews on the team and would not allow them to participate. They did not want to have Hitler embarrassed by seeing Jews on the winner's platform.

http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/detail.php?content=jewish_athletes_more&lang=en

[KamaAina]

14. The U.S. coach excluded them.

Not the IOC.

[former9thward]

15. And?

What was so courageous about the IOC? They bowed to Hitler and kept the games in Berlin despite worldwide protests.

[malaise]

16. And what was Avery Brundage if not a gutless coward

and don't forget he was IOC President in Mexico 1968. Same gutless coward in 36 and 68.

[Bluenorthwest]

19. That is very spot on and good history. Brundage is the source of all of that rhetoric about the

games being 'above' politics, he coined it for '36 and uses it as needed. There is so much to learn by reading about the 36 games, the possible boycott that did not happen, the excising of Jews from competition, and Brundage who thought there was a-dig this- Jewish conspiracy against the Nazi government, whom he found innocent of all discrimination charges. Yes indeed.

[Zambero]

3. I see a boycott in the making here

Standing up for basic human rights goes beyond mere politics.

[malaise]

18. What was 1968 if not about human rights?

What was 1936 if not human rights. How do you separate human rights from politics?

[dickthegrouch]

4. I've had nothing but contempt for the IOC since 1982

The year they prevented the Gay Games in San Francisco from being called the Gay Olympics because it might somehow taint their brand. They are themselves tainting it far worse if they persist in this outrage.

[tkmorris]

5. Thus has it ever been

You'd think they'd get tired of being on the wrong side of history but it looks like they haven't learned their lesson yet.

[LostOne4Ever]

17. + infinity

Maybe do the same thing but have pink triangles on the black gloves?

[tkmorris]

34. I will be absolutely amazed if someone doesn't try something similar

Some brave soul NEEDS to confront this directly and DARE them to do something about it. In fact I am betting someone, maybe multiple someones, will do just that.

[Dawson Leery]

6. What else can be expected from an organization which was run an open fascist for 20 years.

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. And they will reap the whirlwind.

If they do this, a lot of countries will land on them like a ton of bricks. It may finally be the undoing of those corrupt mooks who run the IOC.
Rogge thinks he is infallible and untouchable. Go ahead Jacques. Make our day.

[dipsydoodle]

29. Which countries did you have in mind ?

.

[Aerows]

8. This looks like their downfall, too

The LGBT community isn't going to stand for this anymore. It isn't "political" it is about humanity.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

11. May I invite you to look up the derivation of the word "politics"? N.T.

[Aerows]

12. You may

and I thought about that, but it was just more interesting to leave the word as it was. Glad you noticed

[Donald Ian Rankin]

10. As well they should, I'm afraid.

The Olympics being non-political *has* to be enforced against good causes as well as against bad ones. You can only stop people using the Olympics to make statements against gay rights if you're also willing to prevent them being used to make statements in favour of them.

There's nothing to say that people *attending* the Olympics shouldn't also stand up against Russian homophobia. But I think the principle that those participating officially should not politicise the games is a sound one.

[Aerows]

13. I disagree

And I think that will be noticed. Look up Olympics, and the history of the word.

[Bluenorthwest]

20. That was a concept created by Brundage when he was trying to rationalize the 36 Berlin games

he also, by the way, visited Germany and declared the Nazis did not discriminate against anyone and later claimed there was a 'Jewish conspiracy' to boycott the Nazi Olympics. Brundage was very certain that it was wrong to politicize the games, then he pulled the only two Jews from the US track team to avoid offending Hitler.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

21. Interesting, but not relevant.

The question is "is the Olympics being non-political a good thing?", not "where did it originate?".

[Bluenorthwest]

22. When did that become the question? When you found out the origination of the 'we are above

politics' rationale/blather/bullshit? It's very relevant. Very.

[malaise]

27. Here's a useful paper on Brundage

http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1073&context=asc_papers

[William769]

23. So a winning, homosexual athlete isn't allowed to receive a hug or kiss of congratulations from

their spouse, nor to have their spouse wrap their arms around them to console them if they lose? That's not a matter of " political or religious demonstration". That is depriving them of their basic human rights. But it's ok if a heterosexual does it, right? I hope now you see how you and the IOC loses that argument.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

24. I'm not sure where you get that from - it's a complete non-sequitur.

No-one has been discussing hugging or kissing spouses of any sex, so far as I know.

[William769]

25. Then my friend, you have no idea what your talking about.

But thanks for playing.

[liberalhistorian]

32. Excuse me, but it seems as if you

are completely unaware of the new stringent anti-gay "defense of traditional relationships" laws that Russia has recently passed and that it has made clear it intends to strictly enforce during the Olympic games. This means that anyone who looks in any way as if they are engaged in a gay (i.e. "non-traditional&quot relationship, or displays evidence of being gay, can and will be arrested and Putin has made it clear that they will have no qualms about enforcing that against any and all Olympic athletes and spectators and tourists, including Americans. Not sure where you've been that you aren't aware of that.

So, no, it is NOT a "complete non-sequiter", it has everything to do with the current Olympic games and the goddamned chickenshit IOC, as usual, is siding against human rights and in support of the arrest of their own athletes. You really need to try to keep up here.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

35. Well, one of us is certainly wrong about the details of these laws and their enforcement. N.T.

[malaise]

26. The Olympics has always been political

from those associated with the ancient Greeks

[madrchsod]

28. "....step out of line and the man takes you away..."

so standing up for human rights is "political"........

[Behind the Aegis]

30. Homophobic & Heterosexist assholes!

[davidpdx]

31. I think it is ironic that Russia is now posed to commit a major human rights violation

in front of the world and the IOC is backing them up. The Olympics isn't going to get moved. The IOC is doubling down on their selection of Sochi.

We'll see how much shit Russia really gets over this.

[Zorra]

33. From Czars to Stalin to Putin...Russia ~ the world's oldest established idiocracy. nt

[DonCoquixote]

36. This tarnishes the gold

because behind all the pretty hype, it is all about CA$H. A bunch of young people are trained to act like seals so that people can wave flags.