The gay community has a long and tortured history with the Olympics. Back in the 1980s, the powerful U.S. Olympic Committee claimed it had trademark rights to the word "Olympic" and so took the fledgling San Francisco Arts and Athletics Inc. to court to prevent it from calling its sporting event the Gay Olympics. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the USOC's position prevailed and local organizers were forced to rename their event the Gay Games.
In recent years, the USOC and the International Olympic Committee have downplayed LGBT athletes; and NBC, which owns the U.S. rights to broadcast the games, has colluded with them. When gay Australian diver Matthew Mitcham stunned spectators at the 2008 games in Beijing and won gold in a shocking upset, NBC ignored the gay angle and its cameras cut away rather than show him hugging his boyfriend in the stands.
Now, the world is finally hearing about the draconian anti-gay propaganda law that is in effect in Russia, just months before athletes and visitors converge in the resort town of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics. But the IOC and USOC have been mostly silent on the issue when they should be loudly criticizing and calling for repeal of a law that is stifling, discriminatory, and just plain wrong. The law, ostensibly meant to "protect children," according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, includes stiff fines and jail time for people who "propagate" homosexuality to minors. In practice it is used to rally nationalists and as a pretext to arrest Putin's political enemies.
The IOC is out of touch. Initially, it said that it had received "verbal assurances" from the highest levels of the Russian government that the law, signed in June by Putin, wouldn't be enforced for those attending or taking part in the games. That turned out to be incorrect, and had the IOC backpedaling. Russian officials have since said that of course the law will be enforced, and will apply to everyone, visitors and Russian citizens alike, which shouldn't surprise anyone.
This week, Slate and Gay Star News reported that the IOC is referencing its Rule 50 banning demonstrations or political, religious, or racial propaganda at Olympic sites in response to queries about Russia. In other words, LGBT athletes should stay in the closet. This is outrageous. As Slate reporter Mark Joseph Stern noted, "The notion that voicing support of gay people and gay rights, or that being gay is a 'demonstration' or 'political propaganda' in violation of Rule 50 is obtuse and insulting."
We've seen the calls for boycotts, moving the games, and the like, but the reality is that the Olympics will go on as scheduled next year, and they should. These young athletes train for years in order to compete and they should not be punished due to politics.
There are, however, ways to highlight the problems in Russia and that's where the focus should be. According to its website, one of the other provisions of the Olympic Charter is to "act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic movement." This is the appropriate charter statement the IOC must adhere to. The new Russian law is so vague that an Olympic athlete could run afoul of it just by speaking out in support of fellow LGBT athletes, or saying, "I'm gay." Of course, the IOC has abdicated its responsibility before: it awarded the 2008 games to Beijing with full knowledge of China's well-documented human rights abuses. Apparently the IOC's commitment is selective, and that's not right.
Putin has been caught off guard with the heightened interest and publicity surrounding his anti-gay law, and that media scrutiny must continue. There are many countries with anti-gay laws but only Russia will be hosting the most-watched international event next year.
The bottom line is that Russia is hosting the Winter Olympics. The world's attention will be on Sochi in February and the world deserves to hear and see just how homophobic Russia is right now. The athletes will return home after the games, but who will continue to speak up for LGBT Russians and those punished by Putin's vague and discriminatory law?