(Russian) Pole Vault Great Condemns Homosexuality at Worlds (also she's honorary mayor

[cali]

of Sochi athletes' village)

Pole vault great Yelena Isinbayeva condemned homosexuality Thursday after criticizing competitors who painted their fingernails in rainbow colors to support gays and lesbians in the face of a new anti-gay law in Russia.

The Russian, who won her third world title Tuesday in front of a boisterous home crowd, came out in favor of the law which has drawn sharp criticism and led Western activists to call for a boycott of next year's Winter Olympics in the Russian resort of Sochi.

"If we allow to promote and do all this stuff on the street, we are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves like normal, standard people," Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic champion, said in English. "We just live with boys with woman, woman with boys.

"Everything must be fine. It comes from history. We never had any problems, these problems in Russia, and we don't want to have any in the future."

<snip>


http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/athletes-worlds-sport-rainbow-fingernails-19966078

Russian pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who is tasked with welcoming international athletes at one of Sochi's two Olympic Villages in 2014, criticized fellow athletes Thursday for painting their fingernails in rainbow colors to support LGBT rights in Russia.

Isinbayeva, who was named the "mayor" of Sochi's coastal Olympic Village, also declared her strong support for Russia's new anti-gay law.

"If we allow to promote and do all this stuff on the street, we are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves like normal, standard people,'' Isinbayeva, who won her third women's pole vaulting world title in Moscow this week, told The Associated Press.

<snip>

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/gay-in-maryland/gay-matters/bs-gm-sochi-athlete-greeter-criticizes-athletes-for-supporting-lgbt-rights-20130815,0,7975077.story

[yesphan]

1. Say Wha ?

"If we allow to promote and do all this stuff on the street, we are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves like normal, standard people," Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic champion, said in English. "We just live with boys with woman, woman with boys."

And by the , you're not normal, standard people, you're Russians.

[okieinpain]

3. lol, i was wondering if that sounded weird to anybody but me.

I'm weird and I'm known to see stuff that's not really there. lol.

[OldEurope]

2. What will they do when the German minister of foreign affairs

is visiting the German athletes? He is gay and everybody knows.

[Rex]

4. Awww....someone had a Britney Spears moment.

Bless her little heart!

[leftstreet]

5. 'woman with boys' - isn't that...nevermind n/t

[joeybee12]

6. For someone who has probably done so many steroids she has...

well, if not cojones, probably a beard, to call herself "normal" is, at least, ironic.

[AZ Progressive]

8. No Shit...

[joeybee12]

17. Yup, that looks like a normal body...

no preservatives or additives!

[duffyduff]

28. The US doesn't have much room to talk in that regard.

Lance Armstrong, for starters.

[bravenak]

7. So the women are pedophiles? Or statutory rapists?

Boys with women women with boys?

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Bigot! They are just coming out of the woodwork!

I hope the games go smoothly for the sake of the GLBTA, but I do hope some of them raise a stink that would make a skunk holds it's nose!

[cali]

14. I think we should boycott. I know that's terrible for the athletes

but it's time to put rights above sports. And boycotting could make a real difference in other countries.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. I keep going back and forth.

I don't believe there should ever be a political boycott, and this is political; civil/human rights, to be sure. However, the things that keep coming out of the mouths of the officials there make me very worried about the athletes, and especially the spectators, who wouldn't "enjoy" the same amount of press were something to happen. People keep citing the "Hitler" Olympics, but I am more afraid of a repeat of the Munich Games! And now that the IOC has come out in support of Russia, my fears have been wratched up even higher.

If they do boycott, I will proudly support them, 100%!

[cali]

18. I know. I've done the same thing.

but I've finally (today) come down on the boycott side.

[William769]

22. You made the right decision.

And heres why http://www.democraticunderground.com/113730487

[cali]

24. great link, william. thank you.

[theHandpuppet]

10. Idiot, bigot and coward

That must be what passes for her kind of "normal".

[DURHAM D]

11. LOL Next time she is out of the country she will ask for asylum.

[Blue_Tires]

12. Is Russia deliberately daring the world to boycott by upping the ante on stupid?

[Solly Mack]

23. I've been wondering the same thing.

[Brickbat]

13. Sergei Bubka, the men's world champion pole vaulter (he's from Ukraine), made comments earlier this

week about how boycotts are "futile" and that because he hasn't seen any problems with gay people, there aren't any.

Q: Even for such high-ranking sports officials as yourself? Do you feel obliged to speak up on the issue of gay rights, for instance?

A: Well, it’s not a problem today. People can go around the world and speak up on issues. As for me, I haven’t seen any precedents of things happening (with gay people).

Q: Why do you think people in the West and the Western press have a different opinion?

A: It’s politics, (different countries have) different interests and the authorities here understand that very well.

http://www.sptimes.ru/story/37814

Oh, and he's running for IOC chairman. The election is next month.

[burnodo]

16. ugh

[davidpdx]

19. Russia sure is ramping up their propaganda machine and the IOC is buying into it

There will be no change in venue, no changes in the laws. There will be no consequences for Russia. Any kind of a boycott is going to be written off as purely political.

Expect this to continue right up until the games in Feb next year. The PR ploy begins....

[Johonny]

20. on the brightside of things

It is nice to remember that Americans aren't the must horrible bigoted people on the planet Earth. I imagine the Sochi games are lining up to be one huge financial bust.

[davidpdx]

21. I hope they are a financial bust I hope they lose money

Most people around here are still dancing and singing the songs of how great Russia is. It will funny when all the last minute outrage begins about this stuff we've known for 6 months or more.

[Zorra]

25. In Russia,"normal, standard people" is what Stalin created by killing off all the smart people

and creative thinkers for many decades in systematic purges.

You kill off all the smart people and creative thinkers, you end up with a subject population of conservative, obedient, and compliant "normal, standard people" bullies like Isinbayeva.

"Everything must be fine. It comes from history. We never had any problems, these problems in Russia, and we don't want to have any in the future."

"And now you tell us where are these gay moose and squirrel hiding or KGB maybe take you Siberia."
......................................

Boycott the Olympics.

[OldEurope]

26. Adding one thing

Many young smart people left since the breakdown of the USSR. And the rest is in jail, like the Pussy Riot.

[IDemo]

27. Boise's Symmonds blasts Russian star for gay stance at world track championships

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/08/16/2709108/symmonds-blasts-russian-star-for.html

<snip> That didn’t sit well with Symmonds, the former Bishop Kelly High standout who won a silver medal in the 800 earlier this week. He dedicated the medal to his gay and lesbian friends.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe she said that. It’s bad,” he told the Associated Press. “For Yelena to come out and say we are normal, standard Russian citizens — I’m paraphrasing here — and we don’t stand for that.

“I want to say to Yelena, ‘You understand a very large portion of your citizens here are gay and lesbian people. They are standard people, too. They were created this way. For you to tell them that they’re not normal and standard, that’s what we’re taking an issue with.’

“To say anyone is not deserving of equality is just ludicrous to me. That’s why we have to continue to demonstrate and to speak out against the ignorance that she’s showing.’’

[LittleBlue]

29. One thing to remember about the Russians

Change to them doesn't mean the same thing to us.

As Americans, we've had a good experience with change the last 100 or so years. Most things like equal rights, economic and technological changes have been good. We're used to it, and we're used to it working out for the better.

Change in Russia brings back memories of the disastrous transition from USSR to Russian Federation, and domination by the oligarchs while appalling poverty gripped the country. Before 1991, the last governmental upheaval was in 1917 to a weak government that ultimately was discarded by communists. They aren't used to change, and change isn't necessarily good in their collective memories.

Our country is coming around to gay rights. More slowly than many of us would like, but surely. Partly because change is normal and we are used to accepting new ideas, adapting society to fit those ideas, and moving on. Russians are an old people, it will take a long time for attitudes to change. I think they will ultimately, but it will be a long struggle.