Despite recent legislation that clearly bans anything that promotes homosexuality, out Olympic athletes and out spectators will be exempt from the law in 2014.
That’s according to a release from the International Olympic Committee, which says it has received assurances from Russia’s government that athletes and spectators at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi will not be arrested.
Since it was signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June, the legislation targeting propaganda that depicts the LGBT community in any positive way has attracted calls from activists around the world to boycott Russia’s first Winter Olympics.
“As a sporting organization, what we can do is to continue to work to ensure that the Games can take place without discrimination,” The IOC said.
The ban on “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values over Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church see as corrupting Russian youth and contributing to the protests against Putin’s rule.
Hefty fines can now be imposed on those who provide information about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to minors or hold gay pride rallies.
