Olympians Blake Skjellerup and Johnny Weir oppose a boycott of
next year's Winter Olympics to be held in Sochi over Russia's
anti-gay law.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in June signed the law which
prohibits the public promotion of gay rights. The nation's “gay
propaganda” law prohibits the positive portrayal of gay men and
lesbians in a venue where minors might be present, effectively
outlawing everything from Gay Pride marches to the simple act of
wearing a rainbow pride pin in public.
(Relate: Senate
resolution calls on Olympic officials to condemn Russian anti-gay
law.)
Skjellerup and Weir appeared on CNN to discuss why they oppose a
boycott of the Sochi Games.
“For me, my sheer presence is already propaganda,” Weir said.
“First of all, I'm a figure skater, we wear very elaborate, crazy
costumes, which has been eluded to in Elton John's case in Russia as
of late as being propaganda. And I'm married to a Russian-American
man. I'm a figure skater, I'm very well known in Russia. So just my
sheer presence is a big statement going against this anti-propaganda
law.”
Skjellerup said that “I would agree with Johnny on that one.”
“I'm out and I'm just myself and there's a lot of ambiguity with
this law. And I guess if just being yourself is going to get you
arrested, then I guess that's a statement in itself,” he said.
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(Related: Greg
Louganis to Vladimir Putin: Gays are children of God.)