News
Louganis: Russian Open Games marred by disruptions
Threats, smoke bomb, police target LGBT event


Retired Olympian Greg Louganis last December took part in a Russia briefing on Capitol Hill. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Retired Olympic diver Greg Louganis is among those who participated in the Russian Open Games that ended in Moscow on Sunday.
Louganis, who competed in a table tennis tournament during the five-day event that drew more than 300 LGBT athletes from Russia and other countries that include the U.S. and Sweden, arrived in the Russian capital early last week after he received a last-minute visa.
He left Moscow on Feb. 28.
The gay retired Olympian who won two gold medals during the 1998 Summer Olympics in Seoul and in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles participated in a Feb. 27 press conference at a Moscow gay nightclub that opened the Russian Open Games. A bomb threat forced him and organizers to speak with reporters outside in the buildingās parking lot.
The Washington Post reported the U.S. Embassy hosted a basketball game between participants and diplomats on Sunday after a smoke bomb disrupted a tournament two days earlier.
Louganis, who learned he was living with HIV six months before competing in Seoul, told the Blade police escorted him and more than 30 other Russian Open Games participants out of an ice rink on Feb. 27 after someone reported a group of āstrange peopleā had arrived. He said they had simply gone to the rink for what he described as a āgroup workshopā about āteaching us some skating skills.ā
āThey made it clear we were not welcome,ā said Louganis. āJust the looks of disdain as we were escorted off the premises was just really concerning.ā
Louganis told the Blade he was sending e-mails from a coffee shop across the street from the building where the Russian LGBT Network was holding a panel after the ice rink incident when Konstantin Yablotskiy of the Russian LGBT Sport Federation, which organized the Russian Open Games, said the event had been interrupted. He said Yablotskiy told him somebody suddenly turned off the lights and told them the venue would have to close if they didnāt leave.
Louganis said Yablotskiy and Elvina Yuvakaeva of the Russian LGBT Sport Federation told only one person about venues they had secured for various competitions ā and this person escorted participants to them after they met at a Metro station. Louganis told the Blade that Yablotskiy told him to take precautions that included not saying anything specific during telephone conversations because he was sure āothers were listening.ā
āIt was a very interesting environment,ā said Louganis, noting he had last been to Moscow more than a decade before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. āIt kind of reminded me of that; that everything was watched, was observed, scrutinized.ā
The Russian Open Games took place a few days after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi ended.
The Kremlinās LGBT rights record that includes a 2013 law banning gay propaganda to minors overshadowed the Sochi games. Organizers of the Russian Open Games did not allow anyone under 18 to participate ā they also included a disclaimer on its website that read āthe information on this site is intended only for the use of those aged 18 and over.ā
St. Petersburg Legislative Assemblyman Vitaly Milonov, who spearheaded his cityās gay propaganda ban that inspired the law Russian President Vladimir Putin signed last June, denounced the Russian Open Games. The lawmaker also urged Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin to cancel the event.
Yuvakaeva last week said four venues that had initially agreed to host the games abruptly cancelled their agreements. The hotel where the Russian LGBT Network had planned to hold its forum also cancelled the scheduled event.
Louganis told the Blade he had not heard about the 10 LGBT rights advocates who were arrested near Moscowās Red Square on Feb. 7 as they tried to sing the Russian national anthem while holding rainbow flags before the Sochi opening ceremony. He said a gay couple he met in the Russian capital told him about the arrests ā and the officers who reportedly beat and threatened to sexually assault the activists while inside a local police station.
St. Petersburg police on Feb. 7 arrested Anastasia Smirnova and three other LGBT rights advocates as they tried to march with a banner in support of the campaign to add sexual orientation to the Olympic charterās non-discrimination clause.
āI really wanted to be a participant [in the Russian Open Games] just to get an objective view rather than the propagandized vision of what it was in Sochi,ā Louganis told the Blade, discussing Russiaās LGBT rights record. āSochi I heard was wonderful and everybody was bragging and the media was over-reacting and all of this. You donāt know until youāre there.ā
Louganis was also in Moscow as Russian troops prepared to take control of Ukraineās Crimea region amid outrage from the U.S. and Europe.
The Kremlin on Monday reportedly issued an ultimatum that demanded the surrender of the crews of two Ukrainian warships on the predominantly Russian-speaking peninsula where Russiaās Black Sea Fleet is based. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to arrive in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday as tension between Washington and Moscow continues to escalate after the country’s Kremlin-backed president went into hiding following the deaths of dozens of anti-government protesters in Kiev.
āWe were aware of what was going on with the borders being enforced,ā said Louganis. āThere was talk of invasion. There was this thing going on, but we were just focused on the eventā¦ with every turn we had to adjust and adjust and adjust. We were constantly trying to adjust to the immediate present and trying to make the Open Games as successful as we possibly could.ā
Louganis added he was repeatedly impressed with the gamesā organizersā resilience against efforts to disrupt events.
āIt was very impressive,ā he told the Blade. āIt was also very eye-opening for me from my personal experience.ā
Canada
Canadian LGBTQ group cancels WorldPride participation over Trump policies
Egale Canada cites need to āsafeguard our trans and nonbinary staffā

Egale Canada, one of Canadaās largest LGBTQ advocacy organizations, announced in a Feb. 6 statement that its members will not be attending any events in the U.S., including WorldPride set to take place in Washington from May 17-June 8, because of policies put in place by President Donald Trump.
The statement says the decision not to come to the U.S. resulted in its cancellation of plans to attend a meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women at U.N. headquarters in New York in March, at which it planned to discuss LGBTQ related issues.
āAfter deep consideration, we have decided not to engage in-person in this yearās Commission on the Status of Women or any other UN, OAS (Organization of American States or global convergings, including WorldPride, taking place in the United States in the foreseeable future,ā the statement says.
āThis decision is foremost based on the need to safeguard our trans and nonbinary staff who would face questionable treatment at land and aviation borders to attend such convenings, and to stand in solidarity with global colleagues who are experiencing similar fear around entry to the U.S.,ā the statement continues.
āIt is also founded in the unique situation that has been thrust on Canadians (and citizens of other countries) regarding economic warfare and threats to our national sovereignty,ā according to the statement. āWe cannot in good conscience engage in a process of disentangling our organization from the U.S. goods and services (as we have recently released in a statement) and then proceed to travel to the U.S.ā
The Egale Canada statement marks the first known time that an international LGBTQ rights organization has declared it will not come to the U.S. to attend WorldPride because of the controversial policies adopted by the Trump-Vance administration, which so far have included a roll back of programs and policies in support of transgender people.
State Department
Protesters demand US fully restore PEPFAR funding
Activists blocked intersection outside State Department on Thursday

Dozens of HIV/AIDS activists on Thursday protested outside the State Department and demanded U.S. officials fully restore President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funding.
The activists ā members of Housing Works, Health GAP, and the Treatment Action Group ā blocked an intersection for an hour. Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell told the Washington Blade that police did not make any arrests.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Jan. 24 directed State Department personnel to stop nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for 90 days in response to an executive order that President Donald Trump signed after his inauguration. Rubio later issued a waiver that allows PEPFAR and other ālife-saving humanitarian assistanceā programs to continue to operate during the freeze.
The Blade on Wednesday reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of a lack of U.S. funding.
āPEPFAR is a program that has saved 26 million lives and changed the trajectory of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic,” said Housing Works CEO Charles King in a press release. “The recent freeze on its funding is not just a bureaucratic decision; it is a death sentence for millions who rely on these life-saving treatments. We cannot allow decades of progress to be undone. The U.S. must immediately reaffirm its commitment to global health and human dignity by restoring PEPFAR funding.”
āWe demand Secretary Rubio immediately reverse his deadly, illegal stop-work order, which has already disrupted life-saving HIV services worldwide,” added Russell. “Any waiver process is too little, too late.”
News
Blade welcomes spring intern
Jaylon Curry-Hagler studies journalism at University of Maryland Global Campus

The Washington Blade on Thursday welcomed Jaylon Curry-Hagler as its spring intern.
Jaylon is studying journalism at the University of Maryland Global Campus. Jaylon also grew up in the D.C. area, and previously launched an independent magazine for local DIY creatives.
“As a queer, trans woman of color, I find it more important than ever to give a voice to those within the community and be unapologetic in holding the powers at be accountable as we move toward a future that challenges us to be stronger and connect with one another,” said Jaylon.
Jaylon’s internship with the Blade will end on April 30.
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