Just read that the president, the first lady or the vice president will not be heading to Russia for the Winter Olympics. Clear signal to Russia over the discrimination of LGBT people. Instead, the delegation will be lead by Janet Napolitano.
This marks the first Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Summer Games that a U.S. president, vice president, first lady or former president has not been a member of the delegation for the opening ceremony, which will be Feb. 7 in Sochi.
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The White House delegation will also include an openly gay athlete: tennis great Billie Jean King.
The delegation for the closing ceremony on Feb. 23 will include Caitlin Cahow, a two-time Olympic medalist in ice hockey, who is also openly gay.
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Though the White House did not address the reasons behind the make-up of the Sochi delegation, Obama has been outspoken about what he's called Russia's retreat into a "Cold War mentality."
"I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them," he said.
As for any impact on the Olympics, Obama said, "I think Putin and Russia have a big stake in making sure the Olympics work, and I think they understand that for most of the countries that participate in the Olympics, we wouldn't tolerate gays and lesbians being treated differently. They're athletes, they're there to compete. And if Russia wants to uphold the Olympic spirit, then every judgment should be made on the track, or in the swimming pool, or on the balance beam, and people's sexual orientation shouldn't have anything to do with it."
Thanks for recc'ing this!
Via USAToday