With the beginning of the Sochi Winter Olympics less than three weeks away, Vladimir Putin is now out a major PR offensive to tell the world that Russia is actually an oasis of freedom.
But the passage of an anti-gay rights bill last summer has had the Russian President madly backpedaling in recent weeks, as revulsion for the law in the West has continued to build.
"Russia does not criminally prosecute people for being gay, unlike in over one-third of the world's nations," Putin told George Stephanopolous on ABC's This Week, referring to the law which poses a fine for what it calls propagandizing "nontraditional" sexual relationships among minors.
"Seventy of the world's nations consider homosexual behavior a crime. Seven out of the 70 use capital punishment for homosexuality. What does it mean? Does it mean we need to cancel any major international sports events in those countries? Probably not," Putin added.
The bill bans making available to children information “intended to form in a minor a nontraditional sexual foundation," according to the New York Times. It also prohibits portraying “the attractiveness” of such relations and bans asserting “the social equivalence of traditional and nontraditional sexual relations.” Fines range from $155 for an individual to up to $31,000 for a media outlet.
When asked by Stephanopoulos if gay and lesbian athletes who participate in protests during the games could be arrested, Putin said they should be in the clear as long as they are engaging in "acts of propaganda.
"They are close, but if we were to look at them from the legal perspective, then protesting a law does not amount to propaganda of sexuality or sexual abuse of children. That's one. Two is that I'd like to ask our colleagues, my colleagues and friends, that as they try to criticize us, they would do well to set their own house in order first. I did say, after all, and this is public knowledge, that in some of the states in the U.S., homosexuality remains a felony."
Though there was never any serious discussion about boycotting the games this year (a la Jimmy Carter withdrawing from the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics because of their invasion of Afghanistan), President Obama was able to send a message to Putin when he announced that gay and lesbian star athletes Billie Jean King, Caitlin Cahow and Brian Boitano would be part of the official U.S. delegation.
On This Week, King said she hopes it will be a "watershed moment because of the gay rights and for the LGBT community, bringing it to the forefront. It is the civil rights issue of the 21st century, so I'm very proud of the openly gay — for me personally, if I were still young enough to be going to the Olympics to perform, this would give me such high incentive. I'd be crazed. I'd be like, let's go.
When asked by ABC News' Amy Robach what she would say to Putin if she could, the tennis/feminist icon said simply "Please change this law. Just be inclusive. Champion everyone."
This article appears in Jan 16-22, 2014.