Vladimir Luxuria, an Italian
transgender activist, says she was detained by Russian authorities
Sunday in Sochi's Olympic Park.
“I had this rainbow with Russian
writing on it, saying in Russian 'It is OK to be gay,' just this,”
Luxuria told Reuters. “And they wanted to keep it and I say, 'No,
I want it back.' And when I tried to get it back, they put me to the
police station in the center. … And I couldn't understand what was
going on because they were talking in Russian and there was nobody
talking in English.”
Luxuria said that she was detained for
about 3 hours and let go with a warning not to promote pro-gay
slogans in public. She had previously said that she was attending
the Winter Olympics to challenge the nation's law prohibiting the
promotion of “gay propaganda” to minors.
The 48-year-old Luxuria is a well known
LGBT rights activist and a former member of the Italian Parliament.
Flavio Romani, president of Arcigay, an
LGBT rights organization based in Italy, told The
New York Times that he had spoken with Luxuria from Italy.
Romani said that Luxuria was planning to continue her protest at a
hockey game on Monday.