“I am gay. I am a Jew. My mother lost over a dozen of her family to Hitler’s anti-Semitism. Every time in Russia (and it is constantly) a gay teenager is forced into suicide, a lesbian ‘correctively’ raped, gay men and women beaten to death by neo-Nazi thugs while the Russian police stand idly by, the world is diminished and I for one, weep anew at seeing history repeat itself. ‘All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,’ so wrote Edmund Burke. Are you, the men and women of the IOC going to be those ‘good’ who allow evil to triumph? The Summer Olympics of 2012 were one of the most glorious moments of my life and the life of my country. For there to be a Russian Winter Olympics would stain the movement forever and wipe away any of that glory. The Five Rings would finally be forever smeared, besmirched and ruined in the eyes of the civilised world.” – Stephen Fry, in an open letter to the IOC and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Fry’s arguments are based on both history and humanity.
So powerfully written. Everyone both gay and straight should read the full letter.
The International Olympic Committee has done this many times before. How about Berlin in the late 1930’s. Hitler discussed at Jesse Owens winning the gold. The world knew Hitler was an awful man but everyone went to that one anyway.
Does anyone remember the Jimmy Carter Olympic boycott of 1980? The IOC just went on there merry way and had the event anyway.
The IOC is an elitist corrupt organization that could care less about human rights. They are more concerned about the 50 billion it is costing the Russians to put on the next winter Olympics in a place where it does not snow that often and how much cash profit is in it for them.