WASHINGTON, August 23 (RIA Novosti) – The eldest son of US civil rights movement hero Martin Luther King Jr. has said that a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia should be considered to protest against the country’s new law on homosexuality, the Huffington Post has reported.
“It’s certainly something to consider,” King said in a radio interview with a Huffington Post contributor, referring to calls by gay activists to boycott the Sochi games. The website published a story about the interview as well as an audio file of the interview itself.
“I would not be against a boycott, particularly for a very important issue. The goal is to get as many countries engaged and to support it as possible,” King III said.
Russia has come under withering criticism in recent weeks from gay activists over the new law which was enacted in June. Russia has said the law, which bans promotion among minors of “non-traditional sexual orientations” is intended solely to shield children from “propaganda” about homosexuality. Critics say it discriminates against lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people.
King suggested that his father would have supported gay rights, pointing out that his widow, Coretta Scott King, supported gay marriage and that Bayard Rustin, a prominent organizer of the historic August 28, 1963 March on Washington rally against racial discrimination and for civil rights, was openly gay.
It was at that rally, whose 50th anniversary will be commemorated in Washington next week, that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
“The point is, if dad had problems with gays I don’t think he would have embraced someone in such a significant role,” King said, referring to Rustin’s central role in the 1963 rally.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, has rejected a call from activists to sever “sister city” ties with the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod as a gesture of protest at the new Russian legislation, a local gay online publication reported.
“After much discussion, we have concluded that severing ties would cut off communication and would be counterproductive,” the article posted on the Philadelphia Gay News website quoted Nutter spokesman Mark McDonald as saying.
“Ending our sister-city relationship with Nizhny Novgorod would sever our ability to support their LGBT community today and in the future. It would also invalidate 21 years of work that would likely never be repaired.”
