HRC Blog

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko directly disputes claim from International Olympic Committee that international LGBT visitors attending Sochi Games are exempt from hateful law

Athletes, coaches, fans and journalists will still be subject to law criminalizing support for LGBT equality

Four Dutch nationals have become the first foreign citizens to be held under Russia’s discriminatory new “propaganda” law, which makes it a crime to disseminate information about LGBT issues.

Now that Russia’s anti-LGBT “propaganda” bill has been signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, it has tourists who have been considering travel to the country — and some of the athletes who are heading to next year’s winter Olympics in Sochi — worried.

With the recent passage into law in Russia of an anti-LGBT provision, American right-wing groups are looking to the country as a beacon of hope for their discriminatory agenda.