taken away escorted away from one of the venues you know so yes i mean there there are things that are happening i think that n.b.c. is sweeping a lot of it under the carpet we're not hearing about a lot of the things but you can find a lot of the true information on the internet but isn't this something that also happens routinely in many of the western countries as far as i understand why lance against gays and lesbians and transgender people has been on the increase in many of the western countries in particular in the united states in two thousand and twelve i believe it was at the highest level since one thousand nine hundred eight yes i mean we have been making strides forward in some areas and then in some areas of our own country i mean we've been taking steps backwards but i think with the community you know i was able to get married in the state of california

the state that i live in many of the states are are are following suit. you know justifying that. legislating marriage or legislating love and that's all it is is you know is unconstitutional well missile again is just to put things into perspective all those legislative progress notwithstanding according to the f.b.i. in two thousand and twelve thirteen hundred crimes motivated by homophobe ever registered in the united states thirteen hundred crimes in russia in the same period of time just twelve weren't registered so you may dispute the russian figures they were compiled by one of the leading watchdogs here in the country nongovernmental watchdogs but you know while fake crimes motivated by homophobia in russia compared to thirteen hundred crimes in the united states don't you think

that you know the we may have a bit skewed picture here and the station in russia may not be ask ridiculous as it is usually described at least compared to the united states he you know i. feel that i take issue with that because in order to you know to register and a hate crime then you have to feel you know that you have support behind you i think that. a lot of times those statistics aren't quite accurate because people are afraid to to report a hate crime as a hate crime so because of the you know the climate of the mentality that they're living in i think more people i think that in in the united states i think that we're more comfortable to say you know yes this is a hate crime because we know by law you know for the most part i mean we are

protected by law. you know to not be discriminated against in most of the united states well i think that the russian gays and lesbians are also protected by law not to be discriminated against there are absolutely no criminal punishment for being gay in russia but unfortunately i agree with you discrimination doesn't have to be legalized sometimes it's just social attitudes playing out and to that point i would like to ask a question on the style of l g b t advocacy because many people would argue that this very persistent somewhat aggressive style of. advocacy is actually hurting gay people in russia because many russians when they hear you hear those calls to boycott the olympics they actually have pro-choice gay and lesbians as scapegoats they believe that the west is all out on russia because of all all all those concerns and i would argue that it's not making the lives of algae pretty community

here any easier i was born gay you know when i was growing up when i was a child i didn't put sexuality to you know my you know my identity i mean that's where i'll ask my straight friends you know well when did you choose to be straight. it's not a choice we're born this way it's a human right it's a birthright to love and be loved. and you know that's that's just my feeling what i've been saying all along is there is a gay child born in russia every day and who's protecting that child these injury propaganda laws were passed to to quote unquote protect children from the propaganda i don't i don't see it as propaganda it's all we're trying to do is live our lives you know if you know if you're up in arms about me holding hands with my husband walking down the street. and you call that flaunting well you know when you

have a married straight couple and they're holding hands and there are. arms around each other making out i mean. is that flaunting i think we come to the issue of sexuality and i think there are a lot of cultural differences when it comes to sexuality homosexuality or heterosexuality russia is well new russia at least is a fairly young society it's barely twenty years old and i don't know if you know that but back in the soviet union sexuality any forms of sexuality were highly suppressed and many people to be honest with you didn't even know about homosexuality as a phenomena back then for example my grandmother didn't know at that time that gays existed so i think russia is far more up tight when it comes to any expression of sexuality heterosexuality homosexuality why do we have to accept your social norms rather than being able to evolve those norms ourselves but we are sexual beings i

mean like it or not whether we're straight or gay. you know we are sexual beings i mean that's our nature but you know that again sexuality expresses itself very differently in different countries in saudi arabia they have you know one set of rules and being gay there may get you executed in russia people have different set of rules in japan for example social norms also also different i don't understand why all those countries while the rest of dual has to accept western norms especially given that many western countries only adopted you know marriage equality and nondiscrimination on discriminatory policies towards gays less than a decade ago it's not a question of western eastern anything like this this is a question of humanity how are we treating our you know human beings you know

like i said it's a birthright to love and. we loved you know the pope has come forward in support of the community and say to say who is he to judge you know who is it who is the government to judge but it's not above the government the problem is that in many posts soviet states and many arab states people have while you can you can call it a homophobic view but essentially this is science he is not yet ready to accept that seventy five percent of russians support this law i for example don't support it but. who am i to tell those seventy five percent are who are you to tell those seventy five percent of russians that this is the way they supposed to leave their lives this is the way that children have to be taught why do you think that the your right to self-expression or your right to hold hands of your husband supersedes that rights as parents to protect their children or not to expose their

children to the information that they dislike but what if that child is gay well their lawyer in an over itself doesn't preclude that child reaching out do we want to extinguish that you know that grouping. of society. rates amongst gay teens is higher than any other populace of people cuz whether it be you know inundated with religious views or you know with these anti propaganda laws that are passed by a country where you know the government shouldn't be in my bedroom you know everybody is entitled to a private life but mr louganis your arguing for expressing your sexuality in public absolutely you are within your private life within your right when you come to moscow hope it happens soon when you come to moscow you convert your husband you know you stay together in your hotel room you do whatever you want but why do you

feel entitled to being able to. you know express your homosexuality or your sexuality publicly among the people who actively ask you not to do that well you know what why can't i express myself as as a human being as an individual as you know as a whole person. you know straight people flaunt their sexuality on a daily basis with pictures of their children their grandchildren on their sexuality united states but not so in this country and oh yes they do i've seen many pictures of you know of their of weddings of you know you know from you know straight community from russia you know i see pictures of their children you know isn't that flaunting their sexuality well i think they they would say that it is the majority living you know what they call normal lives but you cannot argue that

homosexuality still and minority behavior i don't wanna. you know it used to be a pathologist even in your country i don't want to subscribe to that few but you have to take into account the fact that homosexuals only account for five to seven let's say or eight percent of the population and that means that this is a minority behavior and ok so what so what blacks were a minority and the united states and they didn't have the right to vote you know women were not did not have the right to vote but they're human beings you know take you know take the labels away and they're human beings and it's and it's a birthright to be to love and be loved. however we express that is really our business and the government shouldn't tell me how to how to act i'm not saying that you have to do this i'm not telling anybody that they have to do anything all i'm doing is expressing myself and have the freedom and liberty

to express who i am but. mr lehane is on the other hand you know there is a this expression in rome do as romans do but unfortunately we have to take a short break now when we come back why some governments have up until recently had a long track record of persecuting sexual minorities and yet they are now at the forefront of their rainbow revolution how much of this is pure geopolitics that's coming up in a few moments on a well the part. transit

route to vnukovo report you'll best way to the heart of mosco. cholesterol. depression. to prove your life. are you. for those that. feel.

while come back to all the parts of discussing the politics of gay rights with five time olympic champion and diving labs and greg louganis missile again i know that recently you joined a number of gay advocacy groups in calling on the international olympic committee

to deny the hosting of the games in the future or other sporting events to the countries we chaffed what you describe discriminatory and to get a loss i wonder how you defined discrimination because it can mean anything from capital punishment for being gay to the lack of recognition of same sex marriage what is discrimination for you. discrimination for me is you know the lack of freedom of expression. you know whether that be you know the anti-gay laws that were passed in. propaganda laws that were passed in. you know in russia or. you know the laws of you know uganda where it's a crime it's a crime to be who you are. my view is why aren't we celebrating

who you know a human being we should and every human life is valuable i mean we wouldn't have child cough ski we wouldn't have had nuri we wouldn't have had. you know countless of martina navratilova you know these are incredible individuals who happen to be gay mr louganis and i totally agree with you i think that. because there has been so much so many inaccuracies and sometimes outright falsehoods on this lie just want to make it clear that again in russia at least being gay is not criminalized there absolutely no punishment for being gay in russia the only thing that these floor precludes is spreading. information favorable information on nontraditional sexual behavior and by the way that law doesn't even mansion homosexuality or gay it doesn't it has no mention of that even though i assume it's

implied ok but you know what i mean i'm sure that there you know there are other and on traditional you know straight you know contingency is what are you going to legislate against couples who swing you know who actually a good heart and hers or is it only a certain type of sex that you're legally able to have you know so what what is propaganda you know it's so unclear do you think it's disturbing to me with the passing of these laws. is was protecting the child who has who's questioning himself that who might be you you know you know who's supporting them while he's there because they're being told by their government that they are that they are wrong and that there's something wrong with them and also the other

thing that's also disturbing that's coming out of russia is that their people are equal aiding homosexuality with pedophilia now if you do your research pedophilia and home of homosexuality are two separate issues i mean they aren't even near you know each other i actually agree with most of what you say i think the only correction i would make is that it is not people in russia who are equating homosexuality with be the feely it's actually people in the west who are seeing some of the videos coming some of the disturbing videos coming out of russia who are equating to feel about homosexuality because there are a number of vigilante groups here in russia who try to set up paedophiles seeking actively seeking out dates with minors and they're presented as attacks on homosexuals speech is simply a straight out lie ok so you know i don't live in your country so i don't know the

information that you are getting and what it's available to you you don't live in my country and a lot of times the information that you are getting about you know is a little skewed so no i think that there's a lot of education going on in the united states you know that's the reason why i'm speaking all over the country. colleges universities and and talking to young people you know except embracing the differences of other people but also celebrating the. similarities we all want to be loved you know that we all have to have the right to be loved well it's hard hard to disagree about that but speaking more formally about the institution of marriage do you think that the lack of recognition for same sex marriage represents a form of discrimination definitely because as as a gay person we're second class citizens this was one of my mom's biggest concerns

she passed in zero four and you know her her tears you know when i came out to my mom telling her that i was gay. you know she you know she was very tearful and she said well you'll always be a second class citizen because you won't be able to be married and you know and you don't have the same rights you know as a straight individual love his love i mean and and so you know that shouldn't be. you know that shouldn't be villainize i agree with you but mr lehane is i think many people feel extremely protective of the traditional definition of marriage not only in russia but also in your country and since you mentioned some nontraditional sexual behaviors earlier like for example polygamy all polyamory i wonder how far are you willing to go the red definition of marriage do you think people who have

polyamorous relationship also should be entitled to register those as as marriage you know that's not a part of my culture so i really can't answer that. all i can do is represent myself and speak for myself you know truly you know and i you know i i fell in love with johnny shy we got married in october october twelfth and i'm appreciative that we have that ability to do that well i'm very happy for you but i would like to take you back to your limp dick propose. do you realize that if the international olympic committee it were to accept it. the pool of potential candidates to host any big time games would be extremely narrow and your own country the united states would probably make the cov the problem is that the united states itself has at least twelve states there have sodomy laws on books

will you be content with your own country being denied the right to host let's say two thousand and twenty four two thousand and twenty six olympic games as far as i understand the united states is actually considering that possibility at this point in my view sure they should be they should be kept to the same standard as everyone else i mean the i.o.c. should be you know should be you know. the example to say you know what the olympic ideals and true sport you know we don't condone. any type of discrimination missile against let me get it straight so as a former olympian you would actually. while come the united states being denied the chance to host the two thousand and twenty four olympic games because of these sodomy books that exist and taxes in alabama and some other states as well sure i mean you know. they not be held in alabama you know because you know

the united states is so big you know we have all of these different states i mean and we have very accepting states you know i don't i don't lump them in as you know this is one question i don't have to live in the united states i live in california that's a very interesting answer if i could ask you one more question on politics i know that you describe yourself as a known political person but on the eve of sorts lympics president obama said that he has no. patients for countries discriminating against gays and lesbians and that's despite all those sodomy laws that the united states itself has on books but i wonder why do you think politicians are sought eager to join the l.g.b. cause now because you know in russia many believe that all this rhetoric is more and to russian than bt given they gan the type of discrimination that it exists in

your country against belgium bt people. states is a very you know it's it's it's a large country. and we're divided up into states and there are certain states that are very you know open armed and accepting there are some states you know that are follow a some traditional rigid legis rhetoric which things are also changing in those areas where a lot of those laws that are being submitted are being voted down as unconstitutional and i think it's a minority that's kicking and screaming in trying to raise a ruckus we are and anybody to fear at all missile again is i think i ask you this question before but let me crystallize it the little bit you just said we are. we aren't you know people to be fear and then you have the style of the advocacy of

recently has been very aggressive has been very you can even call it discriminatory because you after calling for you know inclusion and tolerance what you are now calling for is boycotting isolating and shaming and i wonder if you find the style of advocacy a bit counterproductive to the l g b t cause because off to war afterwards after all it's going to hurt l g b t people on the ground you know all those people in the united states of america all those activists they will be fine they will make names for themselves but there must be. well while living here they'll be pretty community here maybe a sad trick to mourn the loss of two than it used to be but i never said boycott i have never said boycott i was all in favor of the games going on because boy a limp ink boycotts hurt the wrong people it hurts the athletes i was involved i

competed in one thousand seventy six was a silver medal so in one nine hundred seventy six we boycotted the one nine hundred eighty boycotts and moscow because for. us that time the soviet union's afghanistan and which i didn't agree with. you know i wanted to go there as an athlete and show our displeasure in another way and still be able to compete nine hundred eighty four i won two limpid gold medals but the eastern bloc countries weren't there so there were it wasn't a full representation of the olympic games i was also then able to continue on by the grace of god to compete in the one nine hundred eighty eight olympic games and was successful there and winning two gold medals a limpet boycotts hurt the wrong people when you're talking about commerce and business i believe that those boycotts do work it makes those businesses

and those people with the power to take another look again missile again i totally agree with him and if you seconds that we have left can i just clarify because you just said that you do not support the olympic boycotts and yet i saw your name your signature on their statement calling on the international olympic committee to deny future games to countries that discriminate or you believe that i discriminating against the gays can you clarify these two somewhat. conflicting bits of information. yes the ok the petition that's out there. because i believe it was the ukraine was was submitting i should also mention. that russia was also mentioned. it's been a while since i read it so yeah you know i think that the i.o.c.

needs to hold themselves to their own charter which states in principle six that there is no discrimination and so you know and you know what you can put china in there too we were in beijing you know and. they don't have the greatest human rights records well i think that's that's a very you know what i needed because while if i but me so again it's unfortunate that we have to leave it there i really appreciate your being on the program. and to our viewers keep the conversation going on our twitter you tube and facebook pages and hope to see you again same place same time here on the on the part.

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twenty second winter olympic games officially over a cap by a spectacular closing ceremony a fireworks display for which it seems no effort was spared organizers promise to put on a show and they delivered even poking fun at themselves over that one ring that just wouldn't open during the opening ceremonies the i.o.c. president personally thanked russia for the games which he said lived up to every expectation i. more and it really was a fantastic olympics with plenty of action and new records but also heartbreak and celebration congratulations to all the winners and all the participants especially the russian home team for their late surge to the top of the medal count we've been busy here on r t putting together a very breast the best her and brightest moments of the games our team in sochi presents the olympic program.