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Photo a day from Sochi: From Russia, with love for gay rights

It's February 14 in Sochi. Happy Valentine's Day from a place where it's not easy to love the one you're with if that person is your same-sex lover.
russia earrings
A token of gay pride.

 

It's February 14 in Sochi. Happy Valentine's Day from a place where it's not easy to love the one you're with if that person is your same-sex lover. 

It isn't criminal to be gay or lesbian in Russia, but this is nonetheless not the first place to travel if you're gay and want to be safe, comfortable, happy and proud to be yourself. 

Sochi, of course, has a gay scene -- even if it's currently over-run with the "harassing" foreign press -- despite the head-in-the-sand denial of the city's mayor. Government leaders are also rumoured to be gay. Scandalous.

Boycotting the Olympics because of Russia's homophobic "anti-propaganda" laws (and this latest hate-filled slander against same-sex parenting) does not change attitudes in the Kremlin. Nor would I want to punish the athletes who, by chance of birth and circumstance, are at their peak during the quadrennial that brings them to Russia. This is a question for the IOC and its commitment to tolerance and diversity.

In the meantime, I applaud the international delegations who sent gay and lesbian representatives to the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. 

Every day I make my own statement with a pair of rainbow earrings. Who can argue with hearts and 10 little peace signs? Surely, tacky as they are, this jewelry won't be seen to corrupt children. (Truth: they're marketed to girls at Claire's.)
 
A token, meaningless in many ways, and nothing that will rewrite an oppressive law or override the heart of a bigot. But still powerful personal affirmation in support of human rights and solidarity with the people I care about who, in Russia, would not be able to live the lives they choose to live openly in Canada.
 
A valentine for you, my cherished gay and lesbian friends.