Russian sports minister seeks to reassure gay athletes ahead of Sochi Games

Deutsche Welle, 8 Aug 2013

Russia’s sports minister has sought to allay the concerns about gay athletes planning to compete at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi. Some are wondering whether they could be arrested for being openly gay.

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told a press conference in Moscow on Thursday that concerns about whether openly gay athletes could be arrested while in Russia for the Sochi Games had been blown out of proportion.

"I want to ask you to calm down as in addition to this law we have a constitution that guarantees all citizens a private life," sports minister Vitali Mutko said, referring to the legislation, which was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin in June.

The law bans the spread of propaganda promoting "non-traditional sexual orientation," and gives the authorities the power to arrest and impose fines on those convicted of violating it. If the offenders happen to be foreigners, they can be deported.

Mutko also denied that the legislation targeted openly gay people.

"It is not intended to deprive people of any religion, race or sexual orientation but to ban the promotion of non-traditional relations among the young generation," the sports minister said.

"I was in Sochi yesterday and all the athletes and organizations should be relaxed, their rights will be protected...but of course you have to respect the laws of the country you are in," he added.

The president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Lamine Diack, told the same press conference that he saw no problem with the law.

"There is a law that exists. The law has to be respected. Some things have to be respected. We are here for the world championships," Diack said, referring to the World Athletics Championships, which begin in Moscow on Saturday.

The law has sparked outrage among gay activists, with some going as far as to call for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics, which are to run for a fortnight starting on February 7.

The International Olympic Committee has also attempted to reassure athletes. In a statement released last week it said it had received "assurances from the highest level of government in Russia that the legislation will not affect those attending or taking part in the Games."

pfd/dr (Reuters, AP, dpa)

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Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?

Answer: [From the Kryon Office]

There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]

An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306

Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.

Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."

Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!

The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.

Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?

If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?