Italian official criticizes U.S. for sending gays to Sochi Olympics

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-olympics-us-gays-delegation-20140115,0,1240597.story



Italian IOC member Mario Pescante criticized the United States for including openly gay athletes in its official delegation for next month's Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. A newly enacted law in Russia prohibits gay "propaganda" and punishes violators with fines, imprisonment or deportation.

Italian official criticizes U.S. for sending gays to Sochi Olympics
By Carol J. Williams
January 15, 2014, 4:13 p.m.

The International Olympic Committee official who supervised the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, criticized the United States on Wednesday for including openly gay athletes in its official delegation to Sochi, Russia, next month.

IOC member Mario Pescante was quoted by Italian media as saying he considered it "absurd" that the U.S. government was sending openly homosexual representatives to the Feb. 7-23 Games, alluding to the Russian parliament's enactment of a law criminalizing homosexual "propaganda."

World leaders and rights activists have announced they won't attend the Feb. 7 opening ceremony in protest of the law, passed last year, that subjects citizens and foreigners alike to fines or jail time for discussing homosexuality in the presence of minors or engaging with groups promoting the acceptance of same-sex relations.

"The Games should not be an occasion and a stage to promote rights that sports supports daily," Pescante was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency and Gazzetta dello Sport.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Well isn't he just

Precious.

[KurtNYC]

2. Is that from the same IOC that accept bribes and prostitutes when picking the future hosts?

Inside real estate deals, bankrupting cities, dumping all their party expenses on taxpayers that never asked to spend billions to host a 2 week party for the richest of the rich and then get told to leave town for the duration of the games.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-01-20/sports/9901200238_1_salt-lake-scandal-bid-committee-ioc

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95650

[RedstDem]

3. The Games should not be an occasion and a stage to promote rights that sports supports daily

that quote makes me think of a pretzel for some reason....