Russia has made its first Olympics-related arrest of an LGBT activist. Way to go Russia.
A Russian LGBT activist has been arrested in Voronezh, 900km north of Sochi, for unfolding a rainbow pride flag during the Olympic torch relay.
Pavel Lebedev was grappled to the snow by Olympic security personnel and taken into the police station “to clarify the circumstances of the incident”, according to a post by the group Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality on VKontakte (the Russian equivalent of Facebook).
Lebedev told AP: “Hosting the games here contradicts the basic principles of the Olympics, which is to cultivate tolerance.”
I love being wrestled to the ground by security personnel when they want me to clarify something. Don’t you? Doesn’t everyone?
Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that gays would not be persecuted at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games as long as they “leave children alone”. Putin told Olympic volunteers that Russian laws were more liberal then those in certain US states.
Russia’s gay community has reported a rise in homophobic violence following the approval of the legislation banning “homosexual propaganda”.
Well that’s just more “homosexual propaganda” isn’t it. Arrest Russia’s gay community! Wrestle it to the ground!
Tabby Lavalamp says
To be fair, Russia does need to cleanse itself of homosexuality in order to increase its birth rates ( http://globalnews.ca/news/1092480/putin-says-russia-needs-to-cleanse-itself-of-homosexuality/ ) because somehow putting GLBT citizens in jail will make more babies or something?
rnilsson says
Everyone knows who the Russian Pre
sidentmier wrestler is, da? Yu do, for sure.rq says
Tabby
Because all those gay men will go out and have unprotected sex with ovulating women due to sexual frustration, that’s how that works!!! And nine months later, population boom! Logic.