TV Host Fired For Coming Out As Gay On Air

Anton Krasovsky A Russian TV presenter was sacked after he
revealed live on air that he is gay. Anton Krasovsky, 37, a former editor-in-chief
at KontrTV, a Kremlin-backed internet and
cable television network he helped launch,
was fired after finishing his show in January. “I’m gay, and I’m just the same person as you,
my dear audience, as President Putin, as Prime
Minister Medvedev and the deputies of our
Duma,” he said. Now, he is speaking out against a boycott of
the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. “Russian gay people need international
support, but international support is not a
boycott of Sochi Olympic games, because
Olympic games is an international event,” he
told CNN. “It’s not a Russian event, it’s not a
personal event of Putin, it’s an event of millions and millions of people … 7 million
people in Russia are gay. If you want to
boycott Olympic games in Russia, you’re trying
to boycott 7 million gay people in Russia. You
want to boycott me.” A new law in Russia bans “propaganda of
nontraditional s*xual relations,” but Russian
politicians say it doesn’t outlaw
homos*xuality or gay s*x, which was made
legal in 1993, but merely discourages
discussion of it among people younger than 18. The stance has prompted calls for a boycott of
the 2014 Winter Olympics or for it to be
moved. US President Barack Obama has condemned
Russia’s legislation and said that it is one of
the reasons he cancelled a trip to Russia next
month.