The thousand-word intro:
These are Kseniya Ryzhova and Tatyana Firova, who kissed after they helped their team win the 4 x 400 meter relay at the World Athletics Championship in Moscow on Saturday.
MUCH more below. h/t to sfbob, to gizmo59 and to CDH in Brooklyn for source material.
According to Slatest:
Gay Star News says it is “unclear” whether the kiss was merely a sign of affection or whether the athletes were “blatantly defying Russia’s ‘gay propaganda’ laws since neither of the athletes have released a statement.” Regardless, the kiss could land the athletes in legal trouble considering it expressly goes against the much-criticized law that bans anything that may be seen as a promotion of homosexuality.
The authorities, of course, are not amused.
Sky news reports that first, according to Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko (you remember HIM), all this controversy is an invented problem cooked up by Western media, and second,
sources in the Russian camp claimed Kseniya Ryzhova and Tatyana Firova - who had just won gold in the 4x400 metres relay - were just exchanging a congratulatory kiss and there was no political message involved.
Of course they'd say that, wouldn't they. There is no such thing as homosexuality in Russia (Tchaikovsky, Nijinsky, Diaghalev, Nureyev, shall I continue?) so they're just women being women, and the West should get their minds out of the gutter. Very he said/he said here. OPTICS, people.
Speaking of optics, the meme on this is becoming "appear to defy," a phrase used in headlines by the Canadian Broadcasting Company and Metro UK. You can interpret the looks on the faces of their teammates (this was a relay) however you like. I'm swaying in that direction.
But, from Joe Jervis, we have this:
The flag waver is Finnish Minister of Culture & Sports Paavo Arhinmäki who describes himself as a "green-red democratic socialist." No word concerning whether Russia will be taking any action against him yet. But this is just what the CBC wants us to think we should expect in Sochi:
Konstantin Yablonskiy, co-chair of the Russian LGBT Sports Federation, told CBC News on Sunday that he doesn't support a boycott of the Winter Olympics.
"It's not a constructive way to solve such a problem," he said.
Instead, Yablonskiy is calling on athletes to show solidarity in Sochi for gay rights and equality by holding hands with someone of the same sex during the opening ceremonies walk into the stadium. He said they can also wear rainbow stickers and pins.
We're with you on that, Mr. Yablonskiy, and we'll all be watching to see what Russia does or doesn't do as a result IF that happens.