There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the Winter Olympics and Russia’s law banning propaganda used to promote homosexual relationships. Naturally this has caused many people to protest both. Today we learned that a gay protestor was detained and arrested for revealing a rainbow flag as the Olympic torch rally passed through his hometown of Voronezh.
CBS Sports has the full story:
One gay Russian protester was apprehended and detained on Saturday after he unfurled a rainbow flag as the Olympic torch rally passed through his hometown of Voronezh, which lies more than 500 miles north of Sochi.
Photos allegedly show Olympic security personnel wrestling Pavel Lebedev to the ground before police arrived on the scene. Lebedev was still being questioned at the police station when he spoke to the Associated Press.
“Hosting the Games here contradicts the basic principles of the Olympics, which is to cultivate tolerance,” he said.
Lebedev was protesting Russia’s recent law banning propaganda that encourages “non-traditional sexual relations.” The law, enacted this past summer, has drawn criticism from LGBT groups, advocacy groups and numerous officials whose countries are participating in the Games.
Whose idea was it to host the Winter Olympics in Russia again? Don’t think this is the last time we’ll be hearing about something like this pertaining to this year’s Winter Olympics.