ZACHARY TENNENT

Protesters speaking out against the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

It would be an atrocity to allow Russia to move forward with the 2014 Winter Olympics, following their government’s publicized lack of acceptance towards the LGBT community. Just because Russia seems to have the upper hand when it comes to planning and building Olympic facilities doesn’t mean they should host the Olympics.

For those who have not been following, there’s trouble a brewin’ for the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Put concisely, the homophobic policies of the Putin/Medvedev government clash with the International Olympic Committee’s policies of tolerance.

How can the IOC willingly let the Olympics take place in a country that has laws against public displays of homosexuality and gay ‘propaganda’? The Winter Olympics only happen every four years, and there is plenty of time to pick a well thought out and appropriate country in advance. You’d think it wouldn’t be too much to ask that they choose judiciously when doing so.

It seems we should take away the Olympics from Sochi.

What better way to make an important civil rights statement about where society draws the line? Let’s abandon their 50 billion dollar Olympics in favor of a ragtag replacement in Canada or any other nation that values and protects human rights.

In response to the controversy, former Starfleet Lieutenant and patron saint of homosexuality George Takei began lobbying for a change in locale. After drawing attention to a petition to bring the Olympics to Vancouver, support for the movement exploded.

It’s appalling that in this day and age there are still such archaic, hateful laws in place anywhere in the world. I hate the thought of rewarding that kind of country with Olympic prestige.

I rarely watch the Olympics, but I do care about LGBT issues. This is why I wanted to do my part to help the situation. Signing the petition was the least I could do.

Russia’s behavior shouldn’t be rewarded with the press and honor of hosting the Olympics. In an ideal world, everything in good conscience would be done to facilitate a move from Sochi, but at this point it’s far too late to actually happen. To move it now would mean throwing away all the work that has been put into Sochi.

The circumstances surrounding the 2014 Olympics are indicative of our collective apathy about whether or not to accept inhumanity just because it’s difficult to stop. It’s a tough choice, but these are circumstances that warrant tough decisions.

—
Photo: gorodsky/flickr