Belle Brockhoff speaks out for gays (& bravely comes out on ABC)
A gay Australian snowboarder hoping to attend next year’s Winter Olympics in Russia is speaking out against the country’s anti-gay laws. Belle Brockhoff, 20, says she’s coming out nationally to take a stand for gay and lesbian athletes.
See link here
Good on her! 
massive props 
You mean people couldn’t actually tell she was gay already?
Regardless, it’s a brave thing she’s doing. Even if you ignore the coming out part, she is speaking out against the anti-gay laws in Russia. The more athletes who speak up, the louder the collective voice is. And let’s be honest, the Russian anti-gay laws are a disgrace and a joke!
Regardless, it’s a brave thing she’s doing. Even if you ignore the coming out part, she is speaking out against the anti-gay laws in Russia. The more athletes who speak up, the louder the collective voice is. And let’s be honest, the Russian anti-gay laws are a disgrace and a joke!
This!!
well said bud. fairly disgusted with the goings on in russia atm. their attitudes and policies are so unbelievably antiquated. get with equality or gtfo
I’m not saying I agree with the laws in Russia however it is their country, a sovereign nation with the right to govern themselves as they see fit. From my reading on the subject they don’t want gay and lesbian groups pushing the gay and lesbian agenda on to children. I understand they have banned gay couples from adopting children as well, an issue I am still undecided upon, I can see good reasons for both sides of that one.
Playing devils advocate why the big uproar about Russia when many other countries persecute gay people in far more inhumane ways than Russia is accused of doing? Why do people try to use a sporting event as a stage to promote their own beliefs or value system? Why isn’t just about the sport and not about what race, creed, sexual persuasion or other proclivity the athlete is? If gay and lesbian is a natural state of being why does the PC crowd feel the need to have gay pride parades and other such promotions of the gay lifestyle. Why not just go about your lifestyle quietly and happy in the choice/genetic disposition that you’ve made/are? I understand that gay people have a had a rough time of it through the ages but swinging the pendulum so far in the other direction isn’t really helping the cause IMO.
I’m not saying I agree with the laws in Russia however it is their country, a sovereign nation with the right to govern themselves as they see fit. From my reading on the subject they don’t want gay and lesbian groups pushing the gay and lesbian agenda on to children. I understand they have banned gay couples from adopting children as well, an issue I am still undecided upon, I can see good reasons for both sides of that one.
Playing devils advocate why the big uproar about Russia when many other countries persecute gay people in far more inhumane ways than Russia is accused of doing? Why do people try to use a sporting event as a stage to promote their own beliefs or value system? Why isn’t just about the sport and not about what race, creed, sexual persuasion or other proclivity the athlete is? If gay and lesbian is a natural state of being why does the PC crowd feel the need to have gay pride parades and other such promotions of the gay lifestyle. Why not just go about your lifestyle quietly and happy in the choice/genetic disposition that you’ve made/are? I understand that gay people have a had a rough time of it through the ages but swinging the pendulum so far in the other direction isn’t really helping the cause IMO.
OK so i get where you’re coming from, but I really take issue with the term ‘gay agenda’. Apparently seeking equality is now an agenda huh. And I am so fkn tired of the whole argument that a child needs this perfect ‘straight nuclear family unit’ to grow up happy, healthy and ‘normal’. I call bullsh!t on that. How many gay couples accidentally fall pregnant with unwanted babies that a subsequently neglected or abused. I ran QLD’s largest forensic mortuary for 5 years and lost count of the number of babies and children that passed through the doors, as a result of neglect or homicide at the hands of their ‘straight’ parents. I can not recount one case where the child had gay parents. obviously any-one is capable of doing harm, but this is just an example about the absurdity or one e of the arguments against gay parents. what a child needs is one person to love them unconditionally and to provide a safe environment for them to grow up and be themselves in.
As to the argument that why this Olympics in russia can’t just be about the sport, well, when the government there makes it illegal to ‘promote the gay lifestyle’, it becomes a human right issue. when they have openly stated that you can be arrested for so called ‘gay propaganda’ eg. same sex people holding hands, you have basically taken away the rights of gay athletes to be openly supported by their partners. and quite frankly, when sport becomes more important than human rights issues, it’s a pretty sad indictment of where our society it at.
And finally, since straight people aren’t required to just go about their lifestyle quietly, why the hell should gay people. all you have to do is turn on any tv show, movie or open a magazine or even walk down the street and you have the straight agenda shoved in your face on the regular. i mean, come the fk on, most of what passes for news these days is stories about celebrity marriages and divorces. it’s a double standard and douchebaggery at it’s finest. It’s got nothing to do with being PC at all. i could give a fk about political correctness, but until Aus wises up and realises that you can not just pick and choose who should get equality, than i hope the gay community (and their straight supporters like myself) keeps fighting the good fight, in yo faces
you have basically taken away the rights of gay athletes to be openly supported by their partners.
This is the strangest thing about it.
They have said that the athletes are immune from prosecution - but yeah their family and/or friends risk everything by showing up to support them! (and yes their partners…)
The other interesting thing is that if they had of stated this prior to winning the bid they would have never been given the honor.
So whilst - its their own country they can do what they wish - is true… they would not have been able to host the olympics if they made this clearer at the beginning. They know its too late for the IOC to change the venue. and I think they would if they could.
Yup, pretty much in direct violation of the Olympics charter of rights.
and i’m sorry if that came of a bit ranty 
it def wasn’t directed at you NGB, just at the issue of gay rights. I really appreciate the fact that you discuss your opinions so openly hey. Obviously it’s just something that i am fairly passionate about
Ok so let me flesh out my both sides of the gay adotpion debate. There are many deadshit straight parents out there so in one aspect adoption of children by gay parents who can provide a loving family home is a great thing. On the other side of the coin is my perception that being the child of a gay parents in the schoolyard could be at times be a very difficult time for the child regardless of them being gay or straight themselves. Bullying in the school yard seems to be only getting worse with advent of cyber bullying and children and young adults being what they are will lash out at what they consider strange. Perhaps one day that will change but not in the immediate future it won’t. Is this reason enough to prevent gay parents adopting, no, but it should be a serious consideration for gay couple who would like to be parents.
Why do you take issue with the “gay agenda”? Do you find the term “agenda” has negative connotations or something? I go to many meetings where there is a set agenda that basically covers what the meeting is trying to achieve, much the same way the gay agenda describes what gays are trying to cheive, if you perceive that as a negative that’s your perogative.
I haven’t read anything as yet that says anyone in Russia can be prosectuted for being gay or kissing their partner or holding hands in public? If that’s the case then I do not agree with it. My understanding of it is that they cannot cannot engage in promoting or propaganda aimed at minors, the fact that they haven’t detailed exactly what that means is why gay rights activists are worried as they feel that it could be twisted to enable prosecution for next to nothing. Perhaps this is true perhaps not.
Straight people do not have parades that are about nothing other than their natural proclivity towards fcuking members of the opposite sex. TV and general media caters to the majority of their audience, there is gay centric news, TV etc probably in a ratio similar if not perhaps more than gay to straight audience ratio’s would suggest. When I say quietly I mean equally, the same as what your average straight couple would, you’re starting to argue semantics based on your perception of what you think I’m trying to say totally biased by your own view on the subject. For some reason you appear to have it in your head that I’m against gay people or I’m homophobic, I can assure you I’m not I just don’t really appreciate loud minority groups utlising events for their own purposes. If people are really being persecuted in Russia at the Olympics, have at it but Russia has never really been into free speech and probably never will be.
I don’t remember too much being said about gay rights prior to the Bejing Olympics despite the fact it was only decriminalised in 1997 and removed from the list of mental illness in 2001.
Give the gay population the right to get married I have no idea how that impacts on straight people or anyone else for that matter, that whole deal I don’t understand nor to be honest do I really care.
I haven’t read anything as yet that says anyone in Russia can be prosectuted for being gay or kissing their partner or holding hands in public?
http://abcnews.go.com/International/ russian-lawmaker-suggests-gay-athletes-prosecuted-2014-winter/story?id=19829868
* damn boardworld server banning me from using the link about so I put a space in it.
I don’t remember too much being said about gay rights prior to the Bejing Olympics despite the fact it was only decriminalised in 1997 and removed from the list of mental illness in 2001.
That’s because people weren’t being threatened with jail.
Well it wouldn’t be the first time a Russian Olympics has been boycotted, in 1980 it was because of their occupation of Afghanistan, how times change eh????????????
Oh don’t get me wrong, I know how shitty and cruel kids can be. And you’re def right about bullying getting worse. but i just don’t think that our inability to effectively address bullying in our schools is reason enough to stop gays from adopting. couple this with the rampant amount of sexual and physical abuse that takes place in foster homes, i think these kids would be better off being placed into a home with two people who will keep them safe and love them unconditionally. I just get really tired of the antiquated arguments that having gay folks will turn you gay or that gay parents will be more likely to abuse their kids. I also wish people would also keep religion out of the debate.
As for my dislike of the gay agenda, it mostly stems from the fact that i don’t think that equality should need to be ticked off some list like items to cover in a meeting. People shouldn’t have to fight for basic human rights. It’s not an agenda they are pushing, it is the desire the have their rights recognised. And yeah, i do think it tends to be used negatively by anti-gay marriage activists.
If you are really interested, there are a bunch of articles on the ABC, CNN and even the ole huffingtonpost news websites covering the introduction of the new laws. but yeah, people can be arrested for anything that the police deem to be ‘promoting the gay agenda’. This ranges from simply holding a pro gay marriage sign or rainbow flag in public, to kissing or holding hands with people of the same sex. fairly cruel and inhibiting to people living a true and happy life hey. a Swedish athlete at the recent world champs in russia recently had painted her nails in rainbow effect to protest the laws and was forced to remove it for fear of sanctions against her team.
I couldn’t really care less if straight folk wanted to hold a parade to celebrate their straightness, but let’s face it. everyday is a parade for us. we can walk down the street holding hands or kissing our partners without any fear of retribution from people who believe our lifestyle to be an abomination. we can walk into any registry office and marry the person of our choice and we have the right to do that 10 times if we want to. why should gay people not be afforded those same rights. i mean they can join to army and fight and die for our freedom but they can marry for love.maybe you parade as a way of saying fk you for not recognising us as equal members of society. and i really have no preconceived ideas about how you feel about gay folks or their right to marriage, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. sorry if i gave you that impression hey, but i have lost count of the times i have had this same conversation about why do gays have to shove their agenda in our face with parades and stuff. so this is pretty much my stock standard response these days. i even had a buddy tell me once that he hated how in your face gay people were and they shouldn’t be allowed to show affection in public, but please don’t ever ban the lesbians from making their porno’s cause that sh!t is hot!! you can’t have it both ways, hating them for public displays of affection that every straight person engages in, but then wanting to use their sex life to get you off. massive double standard right there.
Like you, i just don’t understand how people can be so against something so has absolutely no impact on their lives at all. Give gay people the right to marriage and have kids because, well, it’s just the right damn thing to do. and quite frankly anything that promotes equality and love i am down with