Russian Broadway Shut Down - Broadway Artists Put On A Show To Protest Russia's Homophobic Laws

This video made me laugh, think - and I even got all choked up at one point. (Thanks, Jonathan Groff!)

With the Winter Olympics starting tomorrow, it's well worth watching, and sharing. Dah.

Counter Programming The Olympics - 17 Days Of Celebrating Queer, Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transgender Russians and Russian History Starts Friday!

It's something I've been thinking about for months, with the anti-gay laws in Russia and the upcoming winter Olympics on this collision course of injustice and prejudice, what can I do here on this blog to help make a difference?

I've signed petitions (lots of them.)

Boycotting the Olympics seems unfair to the athletes.

Moving the Olympics out of Russia (to someplace like Sweden) sounded best to me, but that didn't happen.

Pressuring the Olympic sponsors (looking at you, Coca-Cola and McDonalds) to speak up against the anti-gay laws (which activists are doing) is a great idea, but the big-money machinery of the Olympics churns on, seemingly uncaring of the rights of queer people in Russia (both Russian and foreign.)

But we do care. Millions of us.

And what we can do - each of us - is raise our voice!


Thousands of Swedes did just that, singing the Russian national anthem in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, in support of Russian LGBTQ people. It's an event created by the group "Live and Let Love" and the video is very moving.



And I'll be raising my voice here. For 17 days, starting on February 7th and ending on February 23, for each day of the 2014 Winter Olympics, I'll be featuring a celebration of Queer Russia. Gay Russia. Lesbian Russia. Bi Russia. Transgender Russia. We'll be looking at people and history and celebrating just how Gay Russia has been, is, and will always be.

Since my website is geared for youth 11 years old and up, if I was in Russia, just sharing the history of LGBTQ Russians like I'm going to do would be illegal under their new laws. Mentioning that the famous Russian composer Tchaikovsky was gay is something for which I could be arrested. Fined. Even put in jail for up to two weeks. (A Russian newspaper was just fined under their laws for running an article about a middle school teacher who was fired for being gay.)

Yes, and Tchaikovsky was gay - he'll be featured on Friday! (He even had a gay brother.)

I'm grateful to live in the U.S.A. where I can speak out and stand up, but I think about all the LGBTQ people who aren't free to raise their voices. The ones in Russia. The ones in other countries where being yourself (if you're different from the heterosexual norm) is a crime.

And I know I need to RAISE MY VOICE.

Join me.

And together, we'll sing the glories of being authentic, and the power of Russian Pride.

Here's to a gay gay gay Olympic season!

(And an extra-special shout-out of "GOOD LUCK!" to the five athletes brave enough to be openly queer going into the Olympics!)

Namaste,
Lee

Brave Russian Man Arrested As He Holds Up A Rainbow Pride Flag As The Olympic Torch Goes Through His Hometown of Voronezh, Russia

Pavel Lebedev being detained by an Olympic security person (this photo ran with the AP/USA Today story, with the byline: Andrei Nasonov)

The Associated Press and USA Today are reporting that:

MOSCOW (AP) — A gay Russian protester was detained on Saturday [Jan 18, 2014] for unfurling a rainbow flag during the Olympic torch relay as it passed through his hometown of Voronezh, 560 miles north of Sochi, where the games will begin Feb. 7.

This story makes me think so much about how we all need to stand up when injustices happen - like Russia's new law where Gay people can't be openly themselves and where Russian youth aren't supposed to know LGBTQ people exist.

There are petitions you can sign to protest Russia's laws and actions, like this one to the International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, and this one to Coca-Cola and all Olympic Sponsors.

You can also check out the Uprising of Love project (partnered with the It Gets Better Project and Google+) for discussions of what's going on in Russia, Athletes and LGBT Equality, LGBT youth and more!

I think the photo, of the security guy in his Olympic hat, holding Pavel who's clutching the Rainbow flag is powerful. Not a good publicity moment for Russia or the Olympics.

And I think each of us need to ask ourselves: In the same position, would I be as brave as Pavel?

I hope I would.

Namaste,
Lee

#LoveAlwaysWins - A Video Highlighting Russia's Anti-LGBTQ Laws And How That Will Impact Olympic Athletes

Watch this, discuss and share...



It's a good question:

What if living your dream meant living a lie?

Let's speak up and stand up - not just for the Olympic athletes who will be traveling to Russia for the winter games, but for all the LGBTQ people in Russia who are now living under these repressive laws.

Namaste,
Lee

Russia's Attack On LGBTQ Rights and the Olympics, Part Two: What Can We Do? (GSA Mondays Are Back!)

Welcome back to a new school year, and our first GSA Mondays Post!

The situation in Russia is getting pretty bad for LGBTQ people, and our Allies.  The Olympics are only six months away.  Tourists are already being arrested.  What can we do?


Speak UP!
 
Some Athletes are.

US middle distance runner Nick Symmonds dedicated his 800-meter silver medal at the world athletics championships in August to his gay and lesbian friends back home, becoming the first athlete to openly criticize Russia's controversial anti-gay law on the country's soil.

I like how Nick said,

"I do have respect for this nation. I disagree with their rules."

Two Athletes from Sweden, competing in Russia at the same World Athletic Championships two weeks ago, painted their nails in rainbow colors as a "silent protest" to Russia's anti-LGBTQ laws.

From a Huffington Post Article, Emma Green Tregaro, of Sweden, competes in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

From this HuffPost article, Moa Hjelmer shows off her rainbow nails

Emma Green Tregaro shared a photo of her colorful nails on Instagram on that Wednesday with the hashtag "pride."

But the pressure is on, and "...Tregaro was encouraged to change the colour of her nails because she was in breach of the Olympic rules and she could face disqualification."  The Swedish Olympic committee "has ruled that political protests against Russia’s anti-gay legislation will not be tolerated at the Sochi Olympics next year."

The next day, as NPR reported, Tregaro competed with all her nails painted red.

Getting the word out increases the international pressure on Russia, and gets people everywhere talking about LGBTQ rights.

There are petitions to sign onto, like

The causes.com petition to Visa (a major sponsor of the games.)

The All-out Campaign's petition to President Putin and Russia's leaders, that reads:

To President Putin, Russian politicians and all world leaders:

We stand with citizens across Russia who are calling on their government to stop the crackdown against lesbian, gay, bi and trans people that is fuelling anti-gay violence.

We urge leaders around the world and within Russia to work to eliminate all anti-gay laws and protect all citizens from violence and discrimination in Russia.

And the petition to the International Olympic Committee to move the Olympics out of Russia entirely.


Boycott

Adults are boycotting Russian vodka, but what about those of us who don't drink?  What about teenagers?  What are our options?  What can your GSA do?

Should we not watch the Olympics?

Michelangelo Signoreli's article "Boycott the Olympics? Russian Vodka? NBC? Maybe -- Here Are 5 Other Ripe Targets" gives some interesting facts:

Procter & Gamble is the biggest advertiser on Russian T.V.

Hotel Chains - many of them U.S. companies - are investing and further expanding into Russia. Including Holiday Inn Express, Intercontinental, Hyatt, Marriott, Radisson, Ritz-Carlton, Hilton and Sheraton...  As Michelangelo asks,

"Do these companies really want to be associated with a government that may snatch babies from their mothers' arms or, under the "gay propaganda" ban, will jail anyone, including gay foreigners staying at these hotels, for waving a rainbow flag?"

As Michelangelo says,

These are just a few of what are surely many more American interests, including many companies that enjoy high ratings on HRC's CEI [Corporate Equality Index] and consider themselves pro-gay. As Russia moves in a very dark direction, a line must be drawn in the sand. American companies and politicians who court LGBT people are going to have stand against this brutal regime in no uncertain terms. And it must be expressed in actions, not just words.

Celebrate Queer Russia

Celebrating LGBTQ Russians is a direction to go as well.  If we make a big deal out of the LGBTQ Russians in history and culture, then Russia can't pretend like they don't have lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people there.  And maybe that will help on the road to getting Russia's Queer community out of the drink and back on the road to equality.

We can read and share this excellent Advocate article on the gay Russian writer Mikhail Kuzmin.

Explore the poetry of Russian lesbian Sophia Yakovlevna Parnok and bi Russian Marina Tsvetaeva, who at one point were in love with each other,

Watch a film directed by gay Russian Sergei Eisenstein.

And maybe even play some Tchaikovsky.  After all, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is the gay Russian who composed the 1812 Overture.  The Nutcracker.  And Swan Lake.


These are just some ideas.  Raise awareness about what's going on. Speak Up. Boycott. And Celebrate Queer Russia.  

Talk about it with your friends, discuss in your GSAs and share the ideas and suggestions you come up with in comments!

Namaste,
Lee

Russia's Attack On LGBTQ Rights and the Olympics, Part One: What's Going On?

This photo from Australian news: "Gay rights activists hold a banner reading "Homophobia - the religion of bullies"in Moscow's Red Square" in July 2013.  The caption further reads, "Police detained several activists." (AP Photo/Evgeny Feldman)

Russia.

We here in the U.S.A. have a complicated relationship with Russia - our ally during World War II, our nemesis during the Cold War, and a country we're quite engaged with right now.  They're an economic engine.  A market for American things.  A player on the world stage...

So much so, that the upcoming Winter Olympics will be held there starting February 7, 2014.  In Sochi, on the banks of the Black Sea.

But political tides in Russia are shifting, and human rights, especially for LGBTQ people, are going under.  Russia recently passed an "anti-gay propaganda law" that

"passed overwhelmingly in parliament [The vote was of 436 in favor, 0 against] and signed off by Putin, bans the public discussion of gay rights and relationships anywhere children might hear it. Those found in breach of it can be fined and, if they are foreign, deported.

Critics say the law is so vaguely defined that it can be used to prosecute someone just for wearing a rainbow T-shirt or holding hands with someone of the same sex in public. Amnesty International has condemned it as an "affront to freedom of expression and an attack on minority rights."

The New York Times explains that these anti-gay laws

...also contradict the charter of the International Olympic Committee, which calls sport a “human right” and states that “every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind.” With laws like these on the books, gay athletes, gay fans and others who speak their minds could put themselves in legal jeopardy by attending the 2014 Winter Olympics, which are in Sochi, Russia, in February.

In Michelangelo Signorile's recent interview with Moscow journalist Masha Gessen, a lesbian and a mother, she told him about "reports that Vladimir Putin may push for a law in the fall to remove adoptive and biological children from the homes of gay parents."

Why is Russia suddenly so anti-gay?

In this CNN article, Professor Dan Healey of Oxford University cites the anti-gay groundwork done by the anti-gay laws of Stalin and the Gulags of that era.  He suggests that "Official homophobia is being used by the Putin leadership as a way of distracting public attention away from the fact that the economy is actually slowing down drastically."

To learn more about what's going on, here are four musts to check out:

Harvey Fierstein's excellent op-ed piece in the New York Times

This New York Times Editorial, "Mr. Putin's War On Gays"

This excellent interview Michelangelo Signorile did with Harvey Fierstein on his radio show



And

This interview Dan Savage did about the Russian Vodka Boycott

Will Russia arrest gay, lesbian, bi and trans athletes and fans?  They're saying that their anti-LGBT law applies "equally to all persons, irrespective of their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, and cannot be regarded as discrimination based on sexual orientation."  So, no one should be worried.  Unless, of course, they're openly supportive of LGBTQ people.

As Sunnivie Brydum pointed out in an article in the Advocate yesterday,

"But whether LGBT athletes and spectators would be permitted to participate in the 2014 Winter Games was never in question. Rather, what remains unconfirmed is whether athletes and spectators who express support for LGBT communities by holding hands, kissing, or wearing or waving a rainbow flag could be in violation of the broadly defined law."

The first step is to get informed.

On Monday, we'll talk about what we can do.

Namaste,
Lee