The New Republic has published an article by Julia Ioffe devoted to a possible boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the situation surrounding homophobia and LGBT rights in Russia.
At the beginning of the article the author writes about Russian athlete and world champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who has recently spoken against a possible boycott of the Sochi Games, calling on the international community to respect Russian laws, including those prohibiting the so-called "promotion of homosexuality among minors."
The idea of the boycott has recently been supported by many prominent public figures, including British TV star and author Stephen Fry, who has wrote a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, asking him to authorize a boycott of the Sochi Olympics. In response, the head of the British cabinet stressed that he is committed to the concept of LGBT rights and concerned over the situation surrounding homophobia in Russia, but doesn't support the idea of a boycott.
"A week after President Barack Obama ruled out a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, talk about it continues, as does the loud — and merited — outrage from Western gay activists. But I'd argue that a boycott — of the Olympics, of Stoli — is useless, and, really, so is the outrage. It won't stop the violence and discrimination against LGBT people in Russia; in fact, it may even be counter-productive," Julia Ioffe writes.
According to her, homophobia is so widely spread in Russia that no foreign interference can change the situation for the better. "This kind of wide, deep social acceptance of an idea cannot be changed from the outside; societies just don't work like that," she writes.
"Boycotting the Olympics will do several things, none of which includes improving the lives and human rights of gays in Russia," Ioffe cites analyst Alexander Kliment as saying. "Putin, and most of Russia, relish this kind of reproach from the Europe or the U.S., because they view it as confirmation of Russian ethical and spiritual fortitude in the face of decadent Western naggers. So the frame of reference is entirely different. This is not a human rights issue for Russia; this is a religious and cultural issue for Russia, just the way gay rights and gay marriage are cultural and religious issues for the right in the U.S."
