NAVRATILOVA SAYS GAYS ARE “BEING BEATEN UP SIMPLY FOR WHO THEY ARE “
By Bill Simons
Reflecting on the upcoming Olympics in Russia, tennis legend Martina Navratilova said Tuesday, “The biggest issue for gay people living in Russia is not what’s going to happen at the Olympics, it’s what happens before and what happens after the Olympics. Right now, it’s okay to physically bash human beings for who they are, and that’s certainly not acceptable. The police are letting people get beaten up, and I just don’t know how that is acceptable. You wouldn’t even let a dog get beat up, and yet you let human beings get beat up simply for who they are. Those laws are going to get changed eventually, but right now it’s a very unfriendly climate.”
Navratilova downplayed President Obama’s decision to send Billie Jean King to Russia as part of America’s Olympic delegation, saying King’s sexuality isn’t why she was chosen. “He sent a great athlete-activist who also happens to be gay,” said Navratilova. “I don’t think he picked Billie Jean because she’s gay, I think he just picked Billie Jean because she’s a great ambassador for women and for athletes. End of story.” Navratilova added, “President Obama may have sent a predominately gay delegation to Sochi, but the athletes are told by the IOC not to make any protests, any statements, and really, [to] separate the politics from sports, which is impossible. So it is kind of a controversial situation there, and it will be interesting how it unfurls.”
Earlier at the Australian Open, Inside Tennis asked Russian-American star Maria Sharapova—who will be an Olympic correspondent for NBC, who lived in Sochi from age four to seven, and whose grandparents and relatives still live there—what her feelings were about Russia’s intensely anti-gay laws, which ban “propaganda on nontraditional sexual relationships.” She declined to answer directly, saying she had already expressed her views in an earlier New York Times interview.
The lengthy December 16th article by Christopher Clarey noted, “Sharapova said she had gay and lesbian friends and believed individuals should have the opportunity to share their lives with whom they see fit.”
Clarey then quoted Sharapova, who said, regarding current Russian laws targeting gay people, “I think what needs to be addressed will ultimately be addressed … I think time will address this issue. It will. I’m proud of being Russian, because I believe in the true core of its history and the culture, and that’s where I grew up, and I feel very proud to be from there. But never have I said that every individual there is perfect, or every law is right.”
