Panels of colour at MoMA, New York

YOU GUYS. The Winter Olympics start this week and I’m suck in this damn sun-infested country!

I adore the Winter Olympics. I will watch anything and everything during the games: hockey, ski jumping, curling, hockey, luge, speed skating, snowboarding, skiing, biathlon, figure skating, hockey…  S, I might actually manage to push our internet streaming to the limit this month.

Of course, the big controversy with these games started in June 2013 when Vladmir Putin signed a law banning pro-gay “propaganda” that could be accessible to minors. Pretty much a complete ban on public displays of LGBT-rights support or for suggesting equality between gay and straight people– by penalty of fines, deportation or imprisonment.

Apparently this law passed virtually unopposed and had wide extensive support from the public– though who really knows if this is true. I can say that, having been to Russia, I feel their culture is a heartfelt, yet hard and traditional one and the passing of gay rights is not in the near future.

Although I don’t see things in Russia changing any time soon, this controversy has shone a spotlight on the issue. Protests have broken out in London, New York, Rio de Janeiro and St. Petersburg. Olympic athletes are, and will be, showing their support for the P6 campaign, which refers to principle six in the Olympic charter that states any form of discrimination is “is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.” Hopefully advocates on this global stage will help encourage countries who do have more open cultures to take a stand against discrimination and further foster equality.

So in a way Putin could be thanked. Russia may be far from accepting the LGBT community, but by signing the law so close to the Sochi 2014 games, he’s got the world up in arms… and that’s a beautiful thing.

British indie band Autoheart wrote this boppy, infectious single “Moscow” in response to this Russian law. It doesn’t sound like a protest song, but in this context, just expressing love is a protest.

“Moscow” by Autoheart