With the 2014 Winter Olympics set to begin in Sochi, Russia on February 7th, 2014, some fears have arisen lately surrounding all the gay athletes and fans planning on attending the games. Those fears are solely due to the fact that Russia currently has an extremely anti-homosexual stance in its country.
Much of the those fears have been linked to a law that was passed last year in Russia that outlawed any “propaganda” of “non-traditional sexual relations” among minors. The sad thing about this is that with the vague way this law was written, it potentially can affect any public display of homosexuality, including a symbol that represents gay pride, such as a rainbow pin.
In fact, this new law was put to the test only a week ago by a Russian citizen named Pavel Lebedev, who tried to open up a rainbow flag during a segment of the Olympic torch relay as it passed through his hometown of Voronezh. The Olympic security personnel quickly wrestled him to the ground and detained him until the police arrived, where he was promptly arrested.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, went on record recently defending the actions coming from his country’s new law. He proudly noted that Russia had more births than deaths in the past year since the anti-gay propaganda law was passed, as compared to the previous two decades there. However, in the midst of his comments supporting the anti-gay law, he urged that it would still be safe for all gay athletes and fans to attend the games as long as they stayed away from minors. He clarified this by saying that he feels homosexuality and pedophilia are linked, suggesting that gays are more likely to abuse children.
What’s ironic in his statement is that I’ve had personal experience with someone who felt the very same way towards me. A long time ago when my sister came to stay at my former bed and breakfast with her sons, we had to separate them in different rooms at night due to their adolescent fighting. Sometime during the night, my sister’s husband called and proceeded to scream at her when he learned that one of his sons was sharing a bed with me for the night. He told her in rage that all gays were pedophiles and wanted his son out of the bed immediately that he was sharing with me.
First and foremost, I want to personally note how repulsed I was, and still am, at the idea of ever sexually abusing anyone. Having been a former molestation victim myself, I would never want to put anyone through the pain and angst I had to go through to heal from that tragedy. Second, and just as important, there have been many independent studies in the United States that have shown that the majority of pedophiles are actually heterosexual males.
Regardless, it saddens me that my sister’s husband and people like Putin, hold such negative views towards gay people inside. It’s truly disappointing to see how this anti-gay stance is still shared by so many others in this world today.
All of this reminds me of what women, black people, and other minorities have had to face throughout history in just about every corner of the planet. I believe the source of all this racism has always been fear. People are so afraid of change and they do everything they can to try to keep things the way they are. In our country, white people were so afraid that black people would lash out and try to take control over them, that they in turn viscously oppressed them to prevent that from happening. Today, countries like Russia, and many who claim their Christian seem to be doing the very same thing, but it’s now towards gay men and women.
Can you imagine how different this world might be today towards homosexuals if Jesus had blessed a same-sex relationship by saying it was acceptable in the eyes of God as long as they fully dedicated their love to each other? Alas, that’s not the case though; at least it’s not something that’s depicted in the Bible we read today. And unfortunately, there are too many political and religious leaders who take the few passages that do exist in the Bible and interpret them as they see fit to state that God frowns on homosexuality. They bash gay people by linking us to sex offenders and telling us how we’re comparable to acts of bestiality.
But what those gay bashers don’t realize in all their hate is that it’s changing the hearts of many others to start embracing gay people. It’s also causing people to have more compassion for all the minorities of this world who have gone through or are still going through their own struggles for true acceptance and equality.
So, hopefully one day, there will be a lot more love and light on this planet where all racism and discrimination will completely disappear. And hopefully one day, no matter what your race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, and sexual orientation is, that all will treat you equally and fairly.
Until then, I pray for people like the gay athletes and gay fans who are heading to Sochi in a few weeks. May God protect each of you and may you all be surrounded with love and light.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson