Depending How the Athletes Handle the Olympics at Sochi it Could Be a Stonewall





                                                                      



                                                                 




When the Sochi Olympics begin later this week, it will provide an international platform for 
what promises to be both a controversial and politically charged conversation, but one having very little to do with the actual sports being played. Athletes may have tirelessly trained. Countries may have vigorously vied to host the games. And all eyes may be on Russia as the opening ceremony unfolds on Thursday, but the Achilles heel to these games isn’t whether or not the U.S. will be tough enough to take home the gold this year, but how LGBT rights will fare in a country that has been anything but gay-friendly.

As much as we may like to embrace the notion of good sportsmanship even in the most t
umultuous of times, truth is Russia’s crackdown on gay people (everything from same-sex partnerships to adoption, though technically it’s not “illegal” to be openly gay there) has already set off a firestorm of protests that are not expected to go away anytime soon, especially as the world’s gaze is set on Sochi
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In fact, this year’s games, for as much as they are about sports and international camaraderie, also speak to what we have come expect from a world-class event. The question of whether Russia should even be hosting the games is a little too late to ask, but depending on how athletes and LGBT rights organizations handle this already sticky situation (will protests be permitted or will gay athletes be shunned – jailed even?), Sochi could easily become the Olympics’ answer to Stonewall.
 

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