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U.S. Protecting LGBT Athletes, But Against Boycott Of Russian Games

Out speed skater Blake Skjellerup

The State Department has weighed in on the growing call for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games: It's against it. “That’s certainly not what we’re calling for,” spokeswoman   Jen Psaki told reporters.

Psaki said she couldn't confirm that Secretary of State John Kerry would raise the issue of Russia's virulent homophobia with Russian officials.

But the department is asking Vladimir Putin and his cronies to agree to not arrest any Olympians, staffers or family members during the games:  “We are calling on Russia to uphold its international commitments regarding freedom of assembly and association and freedom of expression now and in the future, also calling them, of course, to protect the human rights of all people attending or participating in the Olympic Games,” State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf announced.

But various officials in the Evil Empire have sworn anyone, from pole vaulters to high divers, could be arrested if they let their pink flag fly.  “If a law has been approved by the federal legislature and signed by the president, then the government has no right to suspend it. It doesn’t have the authority,” said Vitaly Milonov, who sponsored the bill in the first place.

The U.S. government has a weird record when it comes to the Olympics. They didn't have a problem with going to the 1936 Games in Berlin, even though Hitler had already begun his campaign of terror. And they we're all aboard going to the 2008 Games in China, despite that country's despicable human-right's record. But the U.S. did boycott the Moscow Olympics in 198o. Oh, not because of the USSR's repressive policies toward its citizens, but because of Cold War politics.

Guess times really do change.

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