Freeing Pussy Riot doesn’t make Russia OK

A few weeks ago the members of Pussy Riot were freed, it would have been fairly embarrassing to have the two remaining members of Pussy Riot incarcerated during the Winter Olympics.  The gesture was fairly hollow, three months of their sentence remaining is hardly a big gesture, though I have say if I was cooped up in Prison – Russian or otherwise – twelve weeks less would be welcome.  The gesture was a calculated moved.  As the world applauded their release Russia was busying persecuting its gay population, and more than that, using its propaganda machine to dehumanise its gay population.

I don’t define myself primarily as gay, and I don’t think the gay rights issue in Russia is a gay rights issue, it is human rights issue – and as such should be addressed as such.  Reading a photo article in the Guardian today was struck by how ordinary the people were, two male couples, two female couples, two singles, two homophobes and how simple the story was – ordinary people in Russia are being victimised by the State whilst neo-Nazi groups kill people without sanction of the State.  The pictures are well composed, the stories very brief and very simple.  Whilst browsing the iPad newsfeed I also came across a story, well it had been in the news all this week of Thomas Hitzlsperger going public about his sexual preferences, this came a few weeks after Tom Daly made a moving announcement about his sexuality.  As in the case of Hitzlsperger the political involved associated with the Football Player rushed to microphone to show their support – primarily Merkel and Cameron.

Digressing a little, I don’t think it should require any comment if someone says that they are gay, but we will live in a world – even Western Europe – where affirmation is still required to combat the hard rump of discrimination – where still feel it is required to say ‘some people are gay, get over it’.  Unfortunately the same leaders and sportsmen and women that rush to media to show their support are very quite when it comes to gay rights in Russia.  The simple fact is that those sports people who come out as being gay would not be welcome at the Winter Olympics at Sochi.

We unfortunately live in a decaying, well decayed, hegemony that requires us to support those oppress our values, and like armchair political activists just voice our support for human rights in the privacy of our own  media.

What does rile me more is that journalists like Clare Balding are going to Sochi, it is more galling because she herself is Lesbian and apparently sees no contradiction in supporting Tom Daley (who wouldn’t be allowed to attend now), and commenting on the Olympic Games as if it was the meeting of the worlds greatest athletes. Of course we all have to make our own choices, but Clare’s is not one that I understand.

Freeing Pussy Riot, as welcome as it is, was just a gesture and we should remember that.

Mandela, Tom Daley, Clare and a President

This week has been very busy, whilst overshadowed by the death of Nelson Mandela – someone I believe who has a place amongst the truly great reformers and wise men of the 20th Century and whose values will continue to guide us (Kennedy, Ghandi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are on that list) – the mundane has been in my thoughts as well. Weaving together into a mesh of consciousness and political thought I try and weave Tom Daley, Claire Balding and now the President of Germany.

 The ‘coming out’ of Tom Daley not caused several gay men to punch the air in triumph and hopefulness it also challenged me personally. The YouTube video was a moving testament to this young man, it was sensitive, it was honest and it was brave and yet a very strong statement. The lines that stick in my mind where ‘it should not be issue’ and also ‘it happen to be a man’.

 The bold statement is that we will not have equality until our sexuality is not an issue, until, as a gay man, I do not feel the need to mention my sexuality to avoid complications or embarrassing situations, until all invites are ‘and partner’ or specific gender identification ‘and husband’ (if the relationship is established) is the norm.  Of course before I get lambasted my husband is a valid entity in his own right, but when I get a Peerage I would really like to him to be called ‘Sir’ a matter of course.

 The Tom Daley video – and please watch it, it is awesomely moving – introduces another dimension, he seems to assert he is bisexual, as a gay man I have now added a dimension to my acceptance.  I remember when I was spotty teenager and idolising Tom Robinson who was ‘gay’ – and in the 70’s this was a big big thing – and then he became bisexual, and I felt betrayed.  I felt betrayed because he was no longer gay, he was being gay because it was trendy, because he was no longer like me. I will admit that I was bigoted.  Unknowingly I have moved on, and now I accept bisexuality as valid, I don’t think that Tom’s video ‘changed me’ I think it has been a journey.

 The ‘Twitterarti’ went berserk. Response from Journalist, Friends, Commentators, and even the Westboro Baptist Church (God hates ‘fags’ so much that he caused an Helicopter to crash in Glasgow, what a petty vindictive God they worship that kill peoples un-associated with their ‘sin’) joined in, amongst the well wishers  was Claire Balding.

 I like Clare Balding, she is articulate, and nice, and very good at her job, she is human, on the day she tweeted:

“You don’t have a choice to be gay, bisexual or straight but you do have a choice whether to be honest, open & proud. Respect @TomDaley1994

 An awesome tweet, but the problem is that in a few months Clare will be heading off to Sochi for the Winter Olympics where, paradoxically, Tom would not be welcome as a man who is in a same sex relationship, and also where she could not take her same sex partner.  I do not understand how this can be.  In the same week that the USA upset Indonesia by appointing an openly Gay Ambassador to the country a Lesbian is going to a country that excludes gay athletes and turns a blind eye to gay hate crimes?

 We live in a free society and Clare is free to make her own choices, but I am at a loss at how to reconcile the irreconcilable.

 Nelson Mandela died this week, this man is credited with healing wounded, divided, nation and averting a blood bath, and one of the many lessons we must learn from the 80’s is that non-engagement in trade and cultural activities did have an impact on the end of apartheid.

 The President of Germany has decided he will not attend the Winter Olympics because of Russia’s Human Rights record, and I have a lot of respect for him, it is a peaceful demonstration against an inhumane Government that crushes option.

Isn’t boycotting Sochi the best option?