To show his opposition to Russia’s outlawing of homosexuality, Obama has appointed lesbians to his winter Olympic presidential delegation and announced he will personally boycott the games
The Russians have passed anti-gay laws and Putin has compared homosexuals to pedophiles. While that is looked upon in favor by the Russian people, it has stirred up a big controversy in the rest of Europe and the U.S.
In August Obama said we should not boycott the winter Olympics because of the Russian anti-gay laws but added: “Nobody is more offended than me by some of the anti-gay and lesbian legislation that you’ve been seeing in Russia.
To show the Russians, Obama appointed two self-proclaimed lesbians – tennis star Billie Jean King and women’s hockey star Caitlin Cahow – to the presidential delegation. Also appointed to the delegation was Brian Boitano, a figure skater widely believed to be homosexual. Boitano publicly came out as gay after his appointment by Obama. Furthermore, the White House announced that the President, the First Lady and the Vice President would not be going to Sochi, claiming that Obama doesn’t have the time to travel to Sochi, but that the delegation ”represents the diversity that is the United States.”
Cahow told USA Today: “It’s obviously a statement that’s being made, but I think it’s an incredibly respectful one.” It’s more than a statement, it’s a poke in the eye of Putin.
Obama was preaching to his choir of gays and liberals with his statement, and his appointment of gays to the Olympics delegation was lauded by both groups. However, I doubt very much if that will result in changing the Russian people’s hostility toward gays or the repeal of anti-gay legislation. Nor will that poke in the eye persuade Putin that homosexuals and pedophiles are not the same.
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