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Post by Moose on Feb 6, 2014 18:37:30 GMT
I won;t be watching as I don't have a TV, but I am interested to know what everyone thinks about the controversy surrounding the games being held in Russia at all, given their rather awful track record when it comes to LGBT rights. What do people think?
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Post by tangent on Feb 7, 2014 10:51:07 GMT
As I understand it, Russia doesn't have a ban on gay people, it is clamping down on LGBT protests.
I wonder what the reaction would be if I gathered 20 of my friends in the UK, travelled to America and started a protest march in favour of gun control on Capitol Hill. Would I be allowed to protest, would there be violence, would I even get out of there alive?
I'm not sure what the situation was eight years ago when the Olympic authorities awarded the games to Russia but I imagine there were very few LGBT rights at the time in the free world. Since then, the UK and much of Europe has changed but Russia has not. So why do we think we have a right to complain? The time to make a protest was at the time the games were awarded.
There is, too, the issue of sovereignty. A country's sovereignty trumps its human rights. If it were not so, America would be forced to abandon the death sentence and would be obliged to implement universal health care, both of which are human rights. Since LGBT is not yet a human right, Russia is perfectly entitled to take whatever stance it wishes.
Russia has a long history of quashing protests, especially by foreigners. In the 1960s, CND supporters visited Moscow and tried to start a protest movement in favour of nuclear disarmament. Within seconds of displaying their banners, supposedly ordinary people on the street pounced on them and stopped them. It's hardly surprising then that Putin is clamping down on foreign protest movements in Socci. As I see it, protests in your own country are fine but it is impertinent to protest in another country on any issue other than a human right. How would we feel if a group of Russians came over to Edinburgh and campaigned for Scottish independence?
Ten years or so ago, I stated my views in support of the gay community in the Wardrobe and my position hasn't changed since then.
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Post by Alvamiga on Feb 7, 2014 19:54:26 GMT
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 8, 2014 19:41:22 GMT
*yawn*
Olympics?
Again?
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Post by Moose on Feb 8, 2014 20:36:08 GMT
Steve - a lot of LGBT people in RUssia are being attacked.. it's not just protests that they are clamping down on
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Post by tangent on Feb 8, 2014 20:52:21 GMT
So too were black people in America 30 years ago but I don't seem to remember howls of protest from the UK. It didn't stop people going to Florida for their holidays.
And, I guess we weren't too kind on LGBT people ten years ago but an enlightened Netherlands didn't interfere.
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Post by Moose on Feb 8, 2014 23:26:11 GMT
I do not remember us being unkind on LGBT people ten years ago?! And I don't remember Florida hosting the Olympics.
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Post by tangent on Feb 8, 2014 23:41:19 GMT
I didn't say Florida hosted the Olympics.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 9, 2014 2:40:18 GMT
No, it wasn't Florida, but Georgia, just to the north...Atlanta, I believe, which hosted some Olympics or another. 'Bomb Threat' Olympics. In the US.
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Post by Moose on Feb 9, 2014 2:53:00 GMT
Were gay people being beaten up there? Steve, if Florida did not host the Olympics then why mention it as a holiday destination?
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 9, 2014 4:01:20 GMT
Because it's where a lot (and I mean a LOT) of Brits go for vacation (holiday?). As I understand, at least. Orlando...right?
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Post by Moose on Feb 9, 2014 4:13:37 GMT
Well yes. But I don't understand mentioning it in the context of protesting against homophobia. I have never heard of Florida being particularly bad in that respect.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 9, 2014 18:47:19 GMT
Hmmm...Florida oranges? Wassername? Flaming homophobic Christian former beauty queen who sold orange juice?
ETA: Anita Bryant. She was the official spokesperson for Florida Oranges for years.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 9, 2014 19:03:45 GMT
Don't mind me, I'm just free associating....
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Post by juju on Feb 12, 2014 20:37:48 GMT
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Post by Mari on Feb 25, 2014 17:13:33 GMT
Apparently we did really well.
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Post by jayme on Feb 25, 2014 18:23:13 GMT
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 25, 2014 19:51:12 GMT
Yeah? Well, the whole world was watching, this time.
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Post by tangent on Feb 25, 2014 21:36:08 GMT
That's OK, the Russia people are mostly very happy with a clamp down on Pussy Riot and President Putin plays to his audience.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 25, 2014 22:11:31 GMT
Yeah...I suppose it is difficult to outgrow acceptance of that high level of suppression and censorship in only a few short decades.
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Post by Shake on Mar 1, 2014 1:53:21 GMT
No, it wasn't Florida, but Georgia, just to the north...Atlanta, I believe, which hosted some Olympics or another. 'Bomb Threat' Olympics. In the US. At the Atlanta Games it was more than a threat, it actually was a bombing. Fortunately, it claimed only 1 life and injured 100+, but it could have been much worse. I was there about a week later and security was very tight. I thought some of the other earlier controversy surrounding Sochi was that it's a fairly moderate climate, and not necessarily good for winter sports. Indeed, there was rain one day, and numerous days with temps well over freezing.
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Post by spaceflower on Mar 2, 2014 0:34:31 GMT
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