As Olympics Debate Rages Over LGBT Questions, Athletes Will Have Final Say

The International Olympic Committee’s Jean-Claude Killy (left) and Russia Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak at a news conference in Sochi, Sept. 26, 2013. Stringer . / Reuters

NEW YORK CITY — The International Olympic Committee spent Thursday attempting to explain that it was not endorsing Russia’s anti-LGBT propaganda law — just that it concluded Russia’s anti-LGBT law would not violate the Olympic Charter during the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Noting that “the IOC doesn’t really have the right to discuss the laws in the country where the Olympic Games are organized,” Jean-Claude Killy, the IOC official running the final site visit to Sochi before the games, told reporters, “As long as the Olympic Charter is respected, we are satisfied, and that is the case.”

Threading that needle was a difficult prospect from the start — the charter states that “[t]he IOC’s role is … to act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement” — and Russia hasn’t done the IOC many favors over the past months. Despite that, the IOC on Thursday tried its best to end the debate over the impact of Russia’s law against “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” on the Olympics.

The IOC reached that conclusion by determining that athletes and spectators would not face anti-LGBT discrimination while in Sochi for the Winter Olympics.

The IOC’s response leaves most questions unanswered about what actually will happen when the people of the world converge on Sochi. It also rather clearly answers the question of whether the IOC believes it has any role in more broadly addressing anti-LGBT laws in nations it chooses to host the Olympics.

The IOC’s Thursday attempt to end the debate — which clumsily involved the IOC seeking a correction to the initial Associated Press story and even putting out its own statement about the AP report — likely will not be successful.

As has been seen in the back-and-forth, contradictory statements of Russian officials over the past months, the IOC cannot control the Russians. Even as the IOC attempted to minimize concerns over the scope and impact of the new law and President Vladimir Putin’s ban on protests in Sochi, Russian officials earlier this week detained Russians waving signs in support of LGBT pride in front of the headquarters of the Sochi Olympics organizing committee. Will Russian officials react the same if and when attendees at the Olympics decide to similarly display LGBT-supportive signs in public?

Earlier this month, the Russian media oversight body warned a popular Russian TV channel that its presentation of a French musical with gay content violated the anti-LGBT propaganda law. What happens in February, should NBC have a public, big-screen display of its Olympics coverage in the Olympic Village and the station presents one of its glowing profiles of an athlete who is out and proud?

Then, there are the activists. After the Thursday announcement, the Human Rights Campaign’s president, Chad Griffin, issued a blistering statement, saying, “If this law doesn’t violate the IOC’s charter, then the charter is completely meaningless. The safety of millions of LGBT Russians and international travelers is at risk, and by all accounts the IOC has completely neglected its responsibility to Olympic athletes, sponsors and fans from around the world.”

Will the activists accept the IOC’s decision? Andre Banks, the executive director of All Out, made it clear the answer is no.

“If the IOC is unwilling to protect the values of the Olympic Movement, then athletes, sponsors, fans and participating governments must speak out and defend the integrity of the Games,” Bank said in a statement.

At the end of the day, though, it is athletes — not IOC officials or activists — who make history at the Olympics.

As was seen with Swedish high-jumper Emma Green-Tregaro’s rainbow fingernails at the IAAF world championships, the athletes, ultimately, control the talk at and about these international competitions. What will the athletes do at the Sochi Olympics?

Such moments are one of the least expected and, thus, least controllable elements of the Olympics. An Olympic moment centered on opposition to Russian anti-LGBT discrimination or even LGBT rights more broadly — especially in our digital, social world — instantly could become more important than the hundreds of statements made from all sides in the run-up to the games.

As the Olympics draw nearer, the Russians, activists, and the IOC all are keenly aware of the importance of such a moment and — in their different ways and with opposing interests — all of their actions and statements are trying to influence and, eventually, setting the stage for whatever that moment might be.

View the original article here

As India gang rape trial ends, a debate over what has changed

The serial rapist stalks her for days. Eventually he breaks into her home when she is alone and tries to rape her at knifepoint. But she somehow manages to overpower and trap him.

Now, with the help of her two housemates, she has to decide what to do. Kill him and bury him in the garden? Or call the police, who are known to be insensitive and may let him off?

The plot is from “Kill the Rapist?” – a provocative new Bollywood thriller which aims to embolden Indian women to report sexual assaults – and to deter potential rapists by making them “shiver with fear before even thinking of rape” the film’s Facebook page says.

Controversial? Yes, but it is part of a growing awareness in India about violence against women since the high-profile fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in December.

“Like most Indians, I had become used to hearing about rapes and other crimes against women. I would read about them, then turn the page and forget,” says Siddhartha Jain, the 39-year-old producer of “Kill the Rapist?”

“But the December incident shook me to the core. I didn’t want this just to be another story that would be forgotten in a year. My film, which will be released on the anniversary of the incident, is an excuse to amplify the discussion of women’s security and hopefully bring about some positive changes.”

The brutal assault on the trainee physiotherapist jolted tens of thousands of usually apathetic urban Indians, who took to the streets in December and January to protest about the poor state of women’s security, throwing a global spotlight on a country where a woman is raped  every 20 minutes.

Nine months on, as the country awaits the verdict – expected on Tuesday – on four men accused of the crime, the protesters have left the streets but the case has had a more lasting impact on Indian society. (Update: Four men convicted)

Newspapers and television news stations have stepped up their coverage of gender crimes, social media sites are raging with debate and even Bollywood stars and cricketers are joining campaigns to promote women’s safety.

Social commentators say the issue – once only debated by groups such as civil society activists, feminists and academics – is now gaining ground and is being discussed by the urban middle class.

“I think the conversation has changed, there appears to be much more sensitivity towards gender issues now from many quarters,” says Santosh Desai, a columnist and author of “Mother Pious Lady: Making sense of Everyday India”. “Before, it was always a discussion between one small group of people and another small group of people. Now for the first time it is coming into the mainstream and the conversation isn’t just dying down after a few days, it is being sustained.”

This has not resulted in women feeling any safer in India, activists say, but it has helped to break the silence surrounding crimes against women in this deeply patriarchal country.

Police in New Delhi, for example, believe a rise in reports of rape is due partly to an increased willingness on the part of victims to come forward. More than twice as many rapes have been reported so far this year as last year, they say.

“SOCIAL TRIGGER”

Analysts attribute much of the growing awareness to the Indian media, which they say has voraciously, and not always responsibly, covered the Dec. 16 assault and its aftermath.

A study of six news channels found that in the two weeks after the attack they had carried 546 news stories and devoted 194 special programmes and 7,541 minutes of air time to it.

Most prominent newspapers were devoting an average of one to three pages daily to the story, according to the study by the Delhi-based Centre of Media Studies (CMS).

“The media played the role of a social trigger on this whole issue. This case created an overflow of emotions and became the tipping point for Indian society when it came to the subject of violence against women in the country,” says the CMS’s Prabhakar Kumar.

“There have been hundreds of stories on gender violence in the aftermath and there is little doubt that it helped in breaking the silence which often surrounds victims in this very conservative society.”

Sonia Singh, editorial director and president of the ethics committee at NDTV, a popular English language national news channel, agrees.

“It was a turning point for us in the sense that we found our audience became much more receptive to these stories. As a result, we are reporting more, giving these stories higher prominence in our news agenda and also broadcasting more debates,” says Singh.

Social media analysts say that even with only 10 percent internet penetration, sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been abuzz with debate. Bollywood actors and cricketers with millions of fans have also tried to be part of the conversation.

Last month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan carried out a pledge he made after the Delhi gang rape, by placing his leading lady’s name before his own in the opening credits of his blockbuster film “Chennai Express” – to promote the idea of respect for women in a male-dominated film industry.

Other actors have gone further, setting up initiatives such as Men Against Rape and Discrimination or MARD (meaning man in Hindi) to teach young men about gender equality, and enlisting the support of popular cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar.

BREAKING THE SILENCE

Social commentators note that the heightened awareness of sex attacks on women is a largely urban affair, and has not really touched the conservative rural masses who make up 70 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people.

“Since it happened, there have been continual protests over rape cases in Delhi as well as other parts of the country and people have come out in greater numbers than ever before,” says Kavita Krishnan, Secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association.

“This shows that there is a more sustained interest in this subject and people want action on such issues. Also, we saw more men than ever come out to support the women’s movement for change. That is the biggest takeaway from this.”

From New Delhi to cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata and Manipal, a wave of protests has erupted over rape cases, forcing authorities to take action.

In June, for example, the abduction and gang rape of a university student in an auto-rickshaw in the southern city of Manipal led to protests by hundreds of students, prompting the police to launch a manhunt for the three attackers. Hundreds of police officers were deployed and around 5,000 auto-rickshaw drivers were questioned, leading to the arrest of three suspects.

The new willingness of rape victims to report the attacks, despite feelings of fear and shame, is equally significant, police say. Around 40 percent of the country’s rape reports are recorded in Delhi, they say. Police data show that 1,036 cases of rape were reported in Delhi this year to Aug. 15, against 433 in the same period last year, while reports of molestation jumped to 2,267 from 381.

Film-maker Siddhartha Jain says it is important to keep the conversation going so that more women and girls come forward.

“Rapes are happening all the time and we just don’t know about them. Students are raped by their teachers, young children by their uncles and neighbours but they are scared and keep quiet,” he says. “Using tools like film and the media to spark discussion, maybe they will find the courage to stand up and tell their stories so that these things can never happen to others.”

(Additional reporting by Shyamantha Asokan in New Delhi and D. Jose in Thiruvananthapuram)

MORE ON THIS STORY:

Women still feel unsafe in India’s rape capital

Timeline of events: The Delhi gang rape case

Women and New Delhi: the views of travellers

View the original article here