I am so over the rhetoric being expressed against a boycott of the SOCHI Olympics! I respect that everyone is entitled to an opinion, but really, why all the opposition to this idea? Boycotts are efforts design to force an issue and create an outcome. To be battling against a boycott so hard suggests 1) an unwillingness to support what some are fighting for; and 2) a belief that there are no other options for them to take except battle a boycott.
Let’s be clear what is at stake here: The new Russian gay propaganda law makes it illegal to say or do anything that promotes or supports the idea that LGBTQ is OK. Because to do so would be seen as propagandizing to children that gay is OK. This leaves any athlete or spectator are risk in ways they have never been before at any other Olympics. But even more importantly, the LGBTQ persons of Russia are suffering and the world can make a difference by taking a stand.
I want to be on record saying that I don’t believe a boycott is the best solution. I believe the only good solution is for the IOC to pull the games out of Russia. While it may not be easy, I believe it could be done, and have the Olympics in Vancouver. That is the only good solution in my opinion. But athletes and their supporters are too busy fighting against a boycott to play their clout behind forcing the IOC to make this change. and by wasting their energy fighting against the boycott they are harming the LGBTQ Community around the world.
Aaron Ruddick publishes a poorly throughout through argument against boycott here. It is so full of foolish thinking, that it is appalling.
1) The homosexual agenda
Ruddick believes a boycott would fuel the anti-gay’s accusation that “there is a homosexual agenda.” Guess what? There really is a gay agenda, and it is full respect, fairness and Equality for everyone everywhere. That’s the agenda, and it is about time those full of internalized homophobia got with the program and began to work on that agenda! What he misses is that the anti-gay forces, don’t need any real evidence. They promote fear by casting false assertions and misinformation. When we own, loud and proud our real agenda, we combat their falsehoods and misinformation.
2) Support for Russian Law
The issue here isn’t about either supporting or not supporting a law. Rather, it is about the ability of a Country to silence and attempt to eradicate gay, lesbian, bi, and trans people, and will the rest of the world allow that? The Russian passed law is a violation of the Olympics Charter, and because of that, the Olympics should;t be there. Period.
3) Those poor athletes who have worked so hard
I feel for the athletes who have worked tirelessly towards this goal. Yet, those demanding the IOC to take action are not the athletes’s enemies. Rather, the IOC itself is the organization failing to be supportive of the athletes. The IOC is the guilty party, not those demanding change.
4) The power of the LGBTQ Athlete
This is the quote that makes me the most irate in Ruddick’s piece:
When Johnny Weir and other LGBT athletes perform on their screens, when LGBT visitors to Sochi are shown to be courteous normal people this will have more of an impact than boycotts that are all about making a scene and not fighting a cause.
Wake up and think this through Aaron! For an athlete to be seen and known as a LGBTQ athlete they have to be identified that way. If a sportscaster called Weir, “gay” that sportscaster will have broken the gay propaganda law and be subject to a fine or worse. Athletes and spectators can not be seen as “courteous and normal” AND as LGBTQ. Their orientation or support for equality must remain hidden and undisclosed. Those pushing against a boycott are demanding everyone to get into a very dark closet, and step backwards in time. This is unacceptable by its very nature to everyone.
And Aaron, this is 2013! The notion that if we just behave and show people how “normal we are” they will accept us is foolish. It has never worked.
5) Anger at the Olympic movement
It isn’t hard to see that profits rule when it comes to the Olympics and profits are all that matters. The IOC knew this law was being introduced and they followed it all along. That the IOC is choosing to allow the Olympics in a country where the law violates the Olympic charter is the IOC’s fault, and so there is anger directed there and they deserve it.
6) Hypocrisy
Ruddick feels it would be hypocritical to boycott because of a history of past games being in countries like China. Actually, it is the exact opposite. It would be hypocritical to hold the games there, after the history of the 1936 Berlin Games! History is never a reason to continue to treat some people as “less than.”
7) A valid point
Ruddick makes one valid point and I’d be remiss to trash his post so heavily and not mention it.
the USA and North Korean Women’s football teams were seen socializing in their hotel together before a game despite their countries being bitter enemies.
Here is a great point. The Olympics are really one big party for these elite athletes, who are athletes first and nationalists second.
But consider the other side of it too.
When two Swedish athletes decided to show their support for LGBTQ Equality by panting their nails, they were criticized by a Russian athlete who is set to be the mayor of the Olympic Village. The opposite of party cite is also possible. The Olympic Village can become a camp of fear, intimidation and rigidity.
Aaron Ruddick harms the LGBTQ Community by working so hard against a boycott with such poor reasoning, where as we need articulate people demanding for the IOC to be protecting their athletes and spectators. A task they can not do without moving the games.
But this isn’t about the self-absorbed athletes! The outrage people are expressing is about the people of Russia, especially the LGBTQ youth there. When these spoiled athletes like Johnny Weir and jockstraps like Ruddick stop caring only for the athletes, and face the big picture, perhaps we will get somewhere. The world, including Olympic quality athletes ought to be outraged at what the Russian government is trying to do with this law. LGBTQ athletes ought to be leading the cause to demand that the IOC move the games instead of trying to rationalize why being fearful or closeted is acceptable.