Brian Boitano announces he's gay before trip to Sochi | Golden Skate

Brian Boitano announces he's gay before trip to Sochi

Kitt

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Feb 1, 2007
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Maybe not news to us who pay attention to the skating world, but the fact that he announced it after being named to officially go to Sochi....I think it still packs a punch. The US giving notice to Russia that their policies are not OK!
 

Scrufflet

Final Flight
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Mar 1, 2010
Huh? I thought he'd done this years ago. I agree with Kitt. The timing is perfect and he was so eloquent about it. I'll be happy to see him in Sochi, conducting himself in the classy, dignified way he always does!
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I bet this was all orchestrated by the White House, including the timing of Boitano's announcement. President Obama found the perfect vehicle for making a clear statement on human rights.
 
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FlattFan

Match Penalty
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Jan 4, 2010
So Boitano is another pawn by Obama to make Sochi Olympics as uncomfortable as possible for everyone there?
Adding a gay pawn in this charade doesn't help any gays in Russia.

The Russian gays can watch it on TV, thinking, at the end of the day, this out and proud pawn can safely retreat to the USA, what about us? Yeah, not sure what the hell is the message here. "Hi, I'm Brian, I figure skated. I'm gay. I'm American. I'm safe in your country for the duration of the Olympics. Then I go home. Suck to be you, Russian gays?"

This is so stupid.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
By selecting openly gay athletes and no high ranking officials, Obama is making a clear statement against the Russian laws as well as increasing the visibility of LGBT athletes and the issues they, as well as the LGBT community as a whole, face. And that's as much as he can do.
 

Jammers

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United-States
By selecting openly gay athletes and no high ranking officials, Obama is making a clear statement against the Russian laws as well as increasing the visibility of LGBT athletes and the issues they, as well as the LGBT community as a whole, face. And that's as much as he can do.

This is weak on Obama's part. Putin could probably kill Obama with just his stare.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
How exactly is it weak? We're talking about diplomacy here, not internet avatars trolling and throwing insults at each other. :p

It wouldn't be appropriate for him to do anything more direct than that because how Russia governs itself is far beyond his jurisdiction.

Which is why the German and French presidents also just said they wouldn't be taking part in the Olympics without going into more details (still, the message is pretty clear).

The only high ranking official so far, which was direct was Viviane Reding who tweeted: 'I will certainly not go to Sochi as long as minorities are treated the way they are under the current Russian legislation.' But then, she is the EU Comissioner for Justice and Fundamental Rights.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Stare…drone…stare…drone… :)

Obama may be cool, but don't be a fool. ;)
 
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FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Gays in Russia are in hiding for fear of being killed.
Gays in America come to Russia and be gay on TV for the world to see. Then they go home.
It's like that scene in The Book of Mormons, it's nice to preach, but what about the people there?

This is as pointless as Nobunari Oda's third triple toe.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Creating visibility and awareness is not pointless. It's the crucial first step towards achieving any change.
 

phaeljones

On the Ice
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Apr 18, 2012
By selecting openly gay athletes and no high ranking officials, Obama is making a clear statement against the Russian laws as well as increasing the visibility of LGBT athletes and the issues they, as well as the LGBT community as a whole, face. And that's as much as he can do.

Well stated.

It will have meaning to those with values. Better to make the statement than not make it. This is a clear statement except to those who cannot hear.
 

Robeye

Final Flight
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Feb 16, 2010
I bet this was all orchestrated by the White House, including the timong of Boitano's announcement. President Obama found the perfect vehicle for making a clear statement on human rights.
I agree.

But also, I'd like to think that if I were a gay man, and a principled one, albeit very private about my personal affairs, and I were selected to play such a public role at Sochi, I might be troubled about participating without my having unequivocally acknowledged my own sexuality, even if it were already widely understood informally.

IMO, The practical message of Russia's anti-gay law to homosexuals is this: know your place. We will tolerate you, so long as you stay at the back of the bus, in the shadows, closeted, publicly quiet and invisible.

I might feel that taking part in the Sochi ceremonies without a publicly explicit avowal of that part of myself would be tantamount to a passive endorsement of that anti-gay message. I might feel like a token poster child for the regime.

As a related aside, at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, a German fencer named Helene Mayer won a silver medal, and dutifully gave the Nazi salute at the medal ceremony. She was part Jewish, and had only been allowed on the German team as a public relations ploy...

I am certainly not equating the Nazi regime with the nationalist authoritarian government of Putin, whose aims are, in my view, closer to those of Bismarck. But the position of a prominent gay man at the Sochi games is in some ways parallel to that of a Jew at the Berlin Games, in the sense that there will inevitably be a political meaning attached to their presence. The question is: who will shape that meaning? Helene Mayer made one choice. If I were a gay man slated to have a part in the Sochi ceremonies, I might go in a different direction, that is to say, metaphorically, not geographically. I might, I think, choose the route that Brian Boitano chose.

All this having been said, I offer the following addendum: sodomy laws were finally invalidated in all parts of the US only in 2003. As we make our opposition to the Russian legislation known, we might want to remember that change in societal attitudes is often a difficult road, and try not to be too jingoistically self-righteous about it.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
One thing that makes this gesture stand apart is that it has the direct participation of the President. He isn't just standing aside and letting others commit themselves to the situation. Brian's announcement was beautifully eloquent and suited to the circumstances. He's the ideal representative of the U.S. and our athletes, as is Billie Jean King, a pioneer in women's sports.
 

skateluvr

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
I think the ideal person would have admitted he were gay long ago, tho everyone knows pretty much they can't blab it in any area, esp. figure skating, due to USFS desire not to be known as the gay sport for men. I don't/have not followed this whem there was a huge thread in politics which was closed, so I was very surprised about it.

Could someone give a synopsis how this came to be in Russia? Because I honestly do not know. The timing of the law was bad, that was obvious. Why not Rudy Galindo? Brian won an OGM but is that even impt?
 
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