12:48, 11 February 2014

Opponents of homosexuality come out in Sochi with posters in English

Opponents of homosexuality came out in Sochi to the central railway station with posters in English. Sochi, February 10, 2014. Photo: http://ipolk.ru/

At the central railway station in Sochi, an unsanctioned picket against the promotion of homosexuality was held, local residents report, arguing that its participants and organizers were the visiting Americans.

Locals have posted from the event on their blogs. They show posters in Russian and English.

"The posters read: 'God bless Putin for his confronting the sin of homosexuality. Lord believes such an abomination (Matthew 21:43)' and 'Homo sex is a threat to national security'," the user Arkady Schmidt has commented on the event in his blog blogsochi.ru. According to his story, the picket was staged by Americans.

According to the information portal "KazanFirst.ru", the picket was held on February 7; and it was organized by activists of the American movement "Street Preachers".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Russian law banning promotion of non-traditional sexual relations had caused concern of the US State Department, which was concerned about a possible threat to athletes of non-traditional sexual orientation during the Winter Olympics; however, the Russian Olympic Committee promised that there would be no discrimination of gay athletes who came to the event.