Fifty-two Olympians urge Russia to repeal 'gay propaganda' laws [View all]
Source: Guardian
On the eve of the Sochi Winter Games, more than 50 current and former Olympians have called on the Russian authorities to repeal recently introduced anti-gay laws and criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and multinational sponsors for not doing more to force them to do so.
Fifty-two Olympians, with dozens of medals between them and including 12 competitors in Sochi, have launched a trenchant criticism of the lack of action to force Vladimir Putin's administration to scale back laws that forbid "gay propaganda" aimed at under-18s and have led to a wave of homophobic attacks.
The signatories to the so-called "principle six" campaign – named after the clause in the Olympic charter that supposedly guarantees non-discrimination – include the American snowboarding gold medallist Seth Wescott, the Sochi-bound Canadian biathlete Rosanna Crawford and the Australian four-man bobsled team.
Other famous former Olympians who are backing the call include the tennis players Martina Navratilova and Andy Roddick, the former Leeds United footballer Robbie Rogers, and the four-time gold-medal-winning diver Greg Louganis.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jan/30/olympic-athletes-russia-repeal-anti-gay-laws
Minor logistic problem there : the law passed in July was a federal law which unified existing laws in the regions. Removing the federal law would have no effect on the regional laws. Example here of a regional case : Constitutional Court dismisses complaint against St. Petersburg gay propaganda law http://rapsinews.com/news/20131204/269981540.html
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