Torture for being gay

Several weeks ago the Russian gov't passed a law prohibiting all kinds of gay propaganda. It is so draconian that even wearing a rainbow lapel pin is grounds for arrest. News has come of offers of "discreet" gay hook-ups, but when gays arrive there they are severely tortured. This has human rights violations all over it.

This is especially troublesome because Russia hosts the Winter Olympics in February. Are gay athletes protected? The International Olympic Committee says yes. A Russian legislator says no -- there are no grounds to suspend laws during the games. Russian gay organizations don't want a boycott of the games. They want the exposure of international media. That has put NBC in a bind. Others point out the perfect person to highlight those kinds of stories would be lesbian Rachel Maddow of MSNBC.

But what should we do about it? Dan Savage and others have been pushing campaigns to dump Russian Vodka. John Aravosis says the boycott is already working. Once the boycott started it became newsworthy and the rest of the world took notice and began to care. So we are accomplishing Stage 1 of galvanizing the public and the media. On to Stage 2.

Ari Ezra Waldman isn't convinced. Will Putin and the Kremlin pay any attention to the economic hits to vodka producers who have headquarters in Western Europe and distilleries in Latvia? More likely the international pressure will allow Putin to play his patriotic cards and stand firm.

Instead, Waldman discusses other options. Boycott the Games? The USA boycotted the 1980 Moscow games and nobody remembers that. Better to have a Jesse Owens moment. He was a black man who went to Hitler's 1936 games and won gold, disproving Aryan supremacy. So perhaps we make sure our gayest athletes do well next winter.

Perhaps we can airlift gay Russians to someplace safe, similar to what Israel did for Soviet Jews. Torture for being gay in Russia would be grounds to seek asylum. Alas, that's expensive and it is better to stand and fight.

Even so, Waldman thinks we need a bigger goal than media attention.