BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
I’m going to just be bold here. The Olympics are gay. That’s right. The Olympics are gay.
But here’s the thing. Before anyone gets all freaked out by me pointing out the sexuality of a thing, let’s chill the fuck out. The Olympics are gay. The Olympics are straight. The Olympics is white, black, yellow, and brown. The Olympics are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Atheist. It’s man, women, and sometimes children. It’s young, old, and timeless.
The second the Olympics restricts someone from participating it loses its meaning.
The whole thing is supposed to be about community and pride. We take pride in our countries and come together as one big global community. It’s as simple as that. Yes, we come together to compete in athletic events, but that’s a given.
Some smaller country is going to the Olympics with hopes of just competing with the best. It’s not about winning. There is no way some of these smaller countries realistically expect to win. But they still go out there and put their all on the line to go for it all. Win or lose, they were there and they represented.
Who decides who represents and takes pride in their country should not be decided or even conflicted by the sexuality of some one? This does NOT matter. It’s not going to hurt anyone if a straight man, gay man, or transgendered man skates faster than someone who’s deemed “appropriate” by archaic standards.
I think the heart of the problem is that the social ignorance going on here is letting the world look in the mirror. It’s a reality check that just because a few countries are accepting the beautiful diversity we are blessed with does not mean it’s everyone. We’re sheltered to our own devices as others are still stuck in the past.
I’m not comparing Putin to Hitler, but this whole thing reminds me of the Jesse Owens situation. Hitler wasn’t exactly “diversity friendly” as I’m sure a few of you have heard. When the black American Jesse Owens kicked ass and took the medals Hitler was not happy. It was one of those awesome historical moments where the good guys won. It’s that magical moment of comeuppance. But when we peel back the truth, it shouldn’t have happened. This shouldn’t have been an issue. Does Mr. Owen’s amazing skills and drive diminish or get devalued at all if the story is “American Athlete Kicks Ass”?
So now this Winter Olympics is tainted. Like back in the 30s, certain group of people are being singled out. Russia has many good things about it and I’m sure the people are fine folks, but they are not coming off nicely in this event. The accommodations and way things are handled are less than “World Event” worthy. This is all cosmetic and artificial though. We can attempt to look past the dirty water and lack of room. There’s also the dog issue. Basically, they’re killing a lot of stray dogs to “clean up” the town. This is a bummer for sure. If you allow yourself to think about it too hard it’ll put a heavy damper on your day.
My recommendation is to turn off the TV, pop in your DVDs of “Cool Runnings”, “Blades of Glory”, the “Mighty Ducks”, and of course the classic film “Ice Princess”.
U-S-A! U-S-A!
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