LGBT Olympic Athletes Can Be Arrested Under Anti-Gay Law Says Top Russian Minister

Russia‘s Minister of the Interior says that LGBT Olympic athletes and allies are subject to arrest under President Vladimir Putin‘s new anti-gay laws during the 2014 Winter Olympics. Police Colonel-General Vladimir Kolokoltsev (image, right, with Putin) is the head of Russia’s Interior Ministry and controls the national police force. Kolokoltsev “confirmed Monday that the country’s controversial anti-gay law will be enforced during the Sochi 2014 Olympics,” RIA Novosti reports:

The International Olympic Committee first claimed it had received assurances from top government officials that Sochi 2014 athletes and guests will not be affected, prompting Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko to insist no one is exempt from the law.

“The law enforcement agencies can have no qualms with people who harbor a nontraditional sexual orientation and do not commit such acts [to promote homosexuality to minors], do not conduct any kind of provocation and take part in the Olympics peacefully,” said an Interior Ministry statement issued on Monday.

The head of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, on July 31 had stated the Russian government gave assurances that Olympic athletes would be safe while in Sochi, issuing a press release stating “the IOC has received assurances from the highest level of government in Russia that the legislation will not affect those attending or taking part in the Games.”

Last week he followed up, after meeting with activists from All Out who handed him 322,000 signed petitions, asking for clarification of the wording of the law, suggesting there was merely a language problem, not “a fundamental issue” in the law itself.

LOOK: Olympic Committee: We Will Punish Athletes For Pro-LGBT Activism During Games

Blogger John Aravosis says this new development “means an Olympic athlete appearing in public with their same-sex spouse will be arrested.  It also means that an NBC reporter interviewing any athlete who does or says anything perceived as pro-gay – for example, mentioning their same-sex spouse or appearing in their home with that spouse – will be jailed.”

 

Image: Police Colonel-General Vladimir Kolokoltsev (right) with Russian President Vladimir Putin, April 2013. Via the Kremlin

 

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