Nearly 100,000 people have signed a petition, launched by Equality for All and backed by gay stars George Takei and Stephen Fry, to move the 2014 Sochi Olympics to Vancouver.
The petition argues that Vancouver’s Olympic facilities are already in place from the 2010 Games and could be repurposed quickly as an alternative to anti-gay Russia.
On Aug 6, Takei wrote in his blog, “With enough support, maybe the IOC [International Olympic Committee] and the sponsors will realize that this is a disaster in the making, and the best course is to move immediately and decisively to relocate the Winter Games of 2014.”
Fry, in an open letter to the British government, agreed: “An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Stage them elsewhere in Utah, Lillehammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world.”
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