Sochi Mayor Says There Are No Gay People In His City
"The mayor of Sochi is under the impression that there are no gay people in his city.
Anatoly Pakhomov spoke with the BBC ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics and discussed how gay people would be treated in the Russian region with the country's "homosexual propaganda" law in place. Pakhomov said gays are welcome at the Games in spite of this, so long as they "respect the laws of the Russian Federation and [don't] impose their habits on others...
...Nikolay Alekseyev, a Russian gay rights activist, compared Pakhomov's comments to those of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who once reportedly said, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals."
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Yaya Toure's experience and resulting handling (or lack of) in Russia is an interesting contrast to the Adam Goode racial taunt incident last year and how it was escalated and addressed and reacted upon by all segments of Australian society.