Your traditions will be destroyed

The president of Georgia (the one near Russia, not Alabama) is warning other former Soviet clients what Putin is up to. Putin longs for the days of the Russian empire and is trying to lure former satellites back into the fold. But he has only one thing to offer -- the claim that Europe and the West are only about gay rights. "If you go to Europe, your family values will be undermined, your traditions will be destroyed. So we as Orthodox unity, we should stick together." You don't want tolerance forced on you.



The new head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, is again saying that Russian laws meet the Olympic Charter's standards on human rights. Andre Banks, head of All Out, got a letter from Bach about those assurances. Banks says it seems Bach simply can't say the word "gay" and certainly doesn't believe we are human enough to be protected from discrimination.



In contrast, the United States Olympic Committee has amended its non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation. They are leading through example, though they don't feel they can directly advocate for a change in Russia's law. The USOC is also in favor of revising the Olympic Charter to include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination clause.



A couple weeks ago there was a protest at the Metropolitan Opera when Russian conductor Valery Gergiev opened the season. He is a big Putin supporter. Gergiev is back conducting a concert at Carnegie Hall. Again there was a protest. The Met program was an opera by Tchaikovsky, who is gay. This time the program is the three big ballets of Stravinsky -- commissioned by the gay Serge Diaghilev and danced or choreographed by the gay Vaslav Nijinsky.