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IOC Defends Arrest of Italian Trans Ex-Parliment Member At Sochi For Breaking Gay Propaganda Lawby Will Kohler |
The International Olympic Committee has come defending the Russian authorities’ decision to "remove " Vladimir Luxuria
a transgender Italian ex-Parliament member and LGBT rights activist
from the Olympic Village last week and contends she was “peacefully”
escorted from the site and not detained, the AP reports.
Luxuria, who is also the first openly
transgender member of any European parliament, was strolling through the
Olympic village in a rainbow dress, scarf, and headpiece when she was
reportedly removed by Russian plainclothes police officers. She says she
was taken to a local police station by four men — who did not show her
an official badge
"I
was kept to take information, for a couple of hours, and then at last, a
person talking English came, saying that I shouldn't show Russian
writings about LGBT rights," Luxuria told Russia's Kremlin-backed news
outlet RuptlyTV.
Russian Police, and now the IOC however, deny the claims.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams told the AP that
Luxuria had set out to demonstrate at the stadium and that, “We would
ask anyone to make their case somewhere else,” because the games are not
the proper venue for demonstrations. Additionally, Adams denies Luxuria
was detained, saying, “I know her stated aim to demonstrate in the
venue and I believe after a couple of hours when she finally got to the
venue I think she was escorted from there peacefully, and not detained.
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