Gay rights activists in Spain on Monday
held a symbolic Olympic lighting ceremony to protest 'Russia's
homophobia.'
Members of State Federation of
Lesbians, Gays, Transgenders and Bisexuals (la Federacion Estatal
de Lesbianas, Gays, Transsexuales y Bisexuales or FELGTB) lit a
rainbow cauldron with a torch in Madrid's Plaza Mayor to protest the
start of the Olympic torch relay in Moscow leading up to the Winter
Olympics taking place next year in Sochi. During the protest, the
activists held pink placards, one of which included the outline of
Russian President Vladimir Putin and read, “ Love Always Wins.”
(Related: Vladimir
Putin to welcome Olympic flame in Red Square.)
Organizers
said in a statement that the lighting ceremony was to protest
Russian policy, “which has cruelly intensified hatred of LGBT
people and punishes visibility and the fight for equality, in
flagrant breach of the Olympic Charter.”
Passage of a law that prohibits “gay
propaganda” to minors has cast a dark shadow over the upcoming
Sochi games and provoked protests around the world.