Liberal journalists never mounted Olympics protests about free speech in the U.S.S.R., but they’re very excited about President Obama opposing the Russian law against “gay propaganda.” Obama is skipping the ceremonies and sending a lesbian tennis legend in his place.
Under the headline “Obama jabs at Putin’s anti-gay stance,” USA Today topped its front page Wednesday with a blatant Obama-loving editorial from sports columnist Christine Brennan. It began: “President Obama's selection of Billie Jean King for the official U.S. delegation to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games is a stroke of genius.” It was a "perfect call," Brennan claimed. See her Olympic free-speech hypocrisy below.
What better way to show the nation's disgust for President Vladimir Putin's anti-gay propaganda law than for Obama to send an American cultural icon and sports legend who also happens to be openly gay?...
In a recent conversation with USA TODAY Sports' Kelly Whiteside, King talked about the general hesitancy U.S. athletes expressed regarding the law.
"Sometimes I think we need a John Carlos moment," she said on Sept. 25, referring to the U.S. track star who was expelled from the 1968 Mexico City Olympics along with American sprinter Tommie Smith for protesting racial discrimination. [They held up their black-gloved hands in a "black power" salute on the medal stand.]
"I think there's watershed moments, benchmarks. I would hope the majority of the athletes would speak out. It's a great platform."
Brennan added: "Think of the millions of Russian citizens who are gay, or have a gay family member or friend, living in a nation where discrimination based on sexual orientation is not only tolerated, but promoted.And the U.S. president sends one of the world's most recognizable faces of equality and inclusion to attend the Opening Ceremony in such a visible role?It's the perfect call for an extraordinary international situation."
Speaking of "equality and inclusion," it's a good time to recall that just last year, Peter Vidmar, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist, had to resign as chef de mission for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team because as a Mormon, he donated $2,000 for Proposition 8 in California supporting traditional marriage and appeared at two Prop 8 rallies.
That pressure from the gay lobby wasn't Putinesque? At the time, Brennan just reported it like removing him from the Olympic effort was necessary, since he was becoming an activist after all: "In U.S. Olympic circles, there was concern that Vidmar wasn't just expressing his personal opinions on a controversial issue, but that he had moved into an activist role on an issue involving civil rights."
Brennan concluded her front-page editorial with the assertion that that sending the gay activists to Russia may be the "most significant delegation" ever:
In addition to sending King to represent the United States in Sochi, Obama made sure not to send any top U.S. political leaders. For the first time in at least 20 years, no U.S. president, vice president, one of their wives or a current cabinet secretary will be in a U.S. Olympic delegation.
The highest-ranking official will be former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, while 1988 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Brian Boitano also will be part of the group -- what just might be the most significant delegation the United States has ever sent to an Olympic Games.
