Confusion is growing over how Russia’s new gay propaganda laws will affect the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Last week the International Olympic Committee announced that it had received assurances that the new laws would not affect the Olympics and gay tourists and competitors traveling to Russia would not be targeted by the countries new laws.
Now the politician who first proposed the new laws is saying the opposite.
In an interview with Interfax, a Russian news company, Vitaly Milonov said the government does not have the authority to selectively suspend or enforce the legislation.
“I haven’t heard any comments from the government of the Russian Federation, but I know that it is acting in accordance with Russian law.
“And if a law has been approved by the federal legislature and signed by the president, then the government has no right to suspend it. It doesn’t have the authority,” Said Milonov.
The laws ban homosexual propaganda in public and the distribution of information about being gay to people under the age of eighteen. Breaking the new law could result in a fine of up to $30,000 and foreigners who are deemed to be ‘pro-gay’- can be detained for up to 14 days before being deported from the country.
