The Olympic Symbol is five intertwined rings—blue, gold, black, green and red—that represent the unity of each of the Earth’s five continents. Traditionally, the event has been a time for nations of the world to come together to compete in a friendly and welcoming environment.
However, Winter Olympics 2014 host country Russia is under scrutiny for its decidedly anti-LGBT acts as the lens of the nation focuses on the games in Sochi, and president Vladimir Putin is unmoved toward making change to the anti-gay “propaganda” laws he has passed within the last year, which would serve as a gag rule on the existence of LGBTs, punishable by hefty fines and jail time.
Unsurprisingly, issues surrounding the 2014 Sochi Games have incited protests from all around the world.
Corporations show solidarity
The Olympic Games are sponsored by big household names such as McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Samsung.
Of all the corporate sponsors for the 2014 Sochi Games, only three have announced that they condemn Russia’s anti-gay laws. AT&T was the first to release a statement on its consumer blog stating “We support LGBT equality globally and we condemn violence, discrimination and harassment targeted against LGBT individuals everywhere. Russia’s law is harmful to LGBT individuals and families, and it’s harmful to a diverse society.”
Ken McNeely, president of AT&T in California, said the company’s long-time commitment as an Olympic partner for 30 years will continue, and the company will use the platform as a way to educate the world about diversity.
Days later both DeVry University and Chobani, a Greek yogurt company, both released statements too stating they did not support the laws in place or the violence that was taking place toward Russia’s LGBT community.
On Feb. 6, Google released its Google Doodle to feature people performing different winter sports, like curling, skating and skiing—against a rainbow-colored background. Underneath the search bar, there is a statement concerning the intolerance of discrimination toward any kind of persons, which is taken from the Olympic Charter.
Google has declined to comment on the change, saying the logo should speak for itself.
But not everyone has followed suit, including two of the Game’s biggest sponsors, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. Activists have thus targeted these companies worldwide encouraging them to openly speak out like the others.
Worldwide protests
Activists worldwide have taken it upon themselves to convince the other corporate Olympic sponsors, where on Feb. 5 cities across the world protested against companies like McDonald’s, Visa and Coca-Cola for not speaking out against the anti-gay Russian laws in place.
Melbourne, London, Paris and other cities were among the cities that All Out, an organization which promotes LGBT equality in every country, organized protests in. Images of crowds of protesters in London demanding that McDonalds speak out against the unlawfulness in Russia circulated the Internet; many of the locations were in front of McDonald’s trying to draw the corporation’s attention that something needed to be done. There were even protests in Rio de Janeiro, the home of the 2016 Summer Olympics
Coca-Cola remains silent on Russian law, but earned praise—and condemnation—for its Super Bowl Sunday commercial featuring the song “America the Beautiful” sung in seven different languages and featuring different family units, including a gay couple. It also shut down a message generator on its website users could use to create their own virtual can. But the program prevented the use of the word “gay” but allowed “straight.”
Also in protest, Queer Nation NY, a direct action group dedicated to ending LGBT discrimination and repression, remade the famous 1971 Coke commercial “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,” where they included video and images of Russian LGBT individuals being attacked for protesting in public. The organization also protested outside the New York Russian consulate during the Opening Ceremony.
Silent Protests
Despite what Rule 50 of the Olympic charter states, there are some Olympians who will be doing a silent-type protest of their own. The rule states “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted” at any Olympic venue, but that does not prevent athletes from answering questions from the media if questioned.
One Olympian Belle Brockhoff, is an Australian snowboarder who came out last summer. Brockhoff has been the most vocal Olympian about the laws and treatment of the LGBT in Russia. She is a part of Athlete Ally, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about homophobia in sports, and the “Principle 6” campaign. Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter talks about human rights and nondiscrimination. Brockhoff plans on flashing a six-finger salute every time a camera is on her. The Australian bobsleigh team will also display the Principle 6 campaign logo on their sled.
President Barack Obama also sent a strong message to Russia by choosing to send three openly gay delegates for the United States. Famous tennis player Billy Jean King was chosen, but wasn’t able to attend because of her mother’s failing health, Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano and two-time Olympic hockey medalist Caitlin Cahow.
Back in August, Obama told Jay Leno he had “no patience” for Russia’s anti-gay laws.
As the 2014 Sochi Games are well underway, the political buzz surrounding Putin insisting on keeping the laws in place continues to draw the attention from world leaders, Olympic game watchers, activists and thousands worldwide.
The hope is these protests won’t just take place just because of the Winter Olympics’ presence in Russia, but this attention from corporations, activists and the rest of the world will continue even after the television cameras and athletes leave. The growing number of acts of violence and crimes against the Russian LGBT community has grown since the passing of these anti-gay “propaganda” laws as of last year.
