Petition to move 2014 Winter games to Vancouver supported by Star Trek star George Takei and 40,000 others

[Offensive Threat]

People actually believe their signature means something?

[RonMexico]

The only thing that can make any impact at this point is countries or athletes not participating.

How is Russia going to not allow LGBT athletes to participate anyways? Is there some sort of fancy gaydar in the airport?

[ckamo]

People actually believe their signature means something?

[Mr.DirtyDangles]

In Russia games play you.

[Special Ed]

Would love to see this where do I sign????

[goalie13]

To add to the list of things that would need to be done in Vancouver: where do the athletes stay?

[TOMapleLaughs]

There are several problems with this petition and the other actions taken by north americans and euros against Russia re: 'Gay rights.'

First of all, they have no idea what they're protesting about. While major media has omitted a significant detail about it, the 'anti-gay law' is this:

In 2013, Russia's government adopted a federal bill banning the distribution of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" to minors.

I see no problem with this law. I don't exactly want a rainbow van coming down to my kid's schoolyard either. Consider that they are minors. Why should minors be exposed to any kind of sexual propaganda, (as vague as that may be)?

Secondly, hello, hypocrisy? Where was this massive LGBT march against China?

China is a far worse country for human rights in general. Don't recall this silly pro-gay trumpeting during those olympics, however.

Third, it's the Olympics... So what's the attention-grabbing smokescreen issue of the games going to be this time? Spin the wheel... It's gay rights!

This is a smokescreen created by our media and government over here to cloud the real issues regarding American relations with Russia these days: Snowden. And Syria.

Fourth, hey, the majority of Russians, including the Russian gay community, don't even have a problem with the new, vague, and largely unenforced law. The perception that they're being persecuted over there compared to the 70+ countries that call homosexuality illegal is 100% fiction.

Lastly, hey how about worrying about our own discrimination issues? Where does the US get off when they go around the world with a white to brown chart and judge accordingly?

Frankly, i cringe at the thought of how many sheep there are regarding any obviously twisted and overblown issue.

[Electro Rock]

Who doesn't know that this isn't really about gay rights at all?

This is about establishing a means to undermine Russian society, utilizing a wedge group with extensive clandestine support.

At the very least they give Russia somewhat of a PR headache.

[ilduce39]

I signed the petition... Obviously it won't happen but I did it for good old George Takei.. always posting funny stuff on my Facebook.

[silverpig]

lolz. Volunteers? Police/law enforcement forces? Tickets? Hotel rooms for media, players, tourists?

It took VANOC 8 years to plan for the games, and even then, there were opening day screwups. What makes you think a new committee can brush off a 4-year old playbook on a changed city with similar success with only 6 months to go?

The Oval would need to be refurbished - they replaced the long track with smaller ice rinks and basketball facilities. The Rog is busy with Canucks hockey, and their schedule has already been set by the NHL in the month of March (when the Paralympics come to town). BC Place likewise is booked with trade shows, conventions, and other events.

It's a massive logistical nightmare that Takei and apparently 40k others will ignore simply because they believe a nation should not have the sovereign right to dictate what is and what isn't a crime. Where were they in Beijing 2008?

[Common sense]

So I think the point is that Vancouver hold hold the Olympics, but it wouldn't be the big spectacle it was 3 years ago.

6 months to refurbish the oval? Sure.

6 months to re-schedule the BC Place and Rogers Centre games? Yeah I think they could work something out.

They could get all the venues good to go and host the events, but they would probably need an extra week for the games, they'd not be able to sell as many tickets, and may have to use alternate sites for some of the events. (Like, do the moguls in SLC or Lake Louise or something).

[DeNiro]

Waay too late to move them.

It will never happen. The games will go on as planned, and activists will just have find creative ways to have their message heard.

[Warhippy]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/08/07/bc-george-takei-sochi-olympics-vancouver.html

Activist and actor George Takei, best known as helmsman Lt. Sulu in the original Star Trek television series, is calling for the Games to move to Vancouver from Sochi to protest Russia's anti-gay laws.

He's the latest celebrity to weigh in on the Olympic controversy, endorsing a petition at Change.org that has already garnered over 52,000 supporters Wednesday afternoon.

Russia "intends to enforce its laws against visiting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender) athletes, trainers and fans, meaning anyone even so much as waving a rainbow flag (and I presume many men enthusiastically watching and dramatically commenting on figure skating) would be arrested, held for weeks and then deported," he writes in a blog post last week.

• Russia's anti-gay law attacked as Sochi Games near

• Should Olympians fear Russia's anti-gay laws?

"Given this position, the (International Olympic Committee) must do the right thing, protect its athletes and the fans, and move the 2014 Winter Olympics out of Russia."

Takei notes Vancouver's facilities are still in good condition and the city would be the easiest of possible alternatives. Moving the Games, he says, would be much better than a boycott — one of the options touted by some activists.

• Olympians march in Vancouver Pride Parade

"A boycott of the games would punish athletes who have trained for years to participate, and a boycott of Russian vodka isn't going to effect the kind of change needed," he writes.

Takei says Russia's ban on "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" and its imposition of heavy fines directly contravenes the IOC's fundamental principals, and he argues such intolerance wouldn't be accepted if it were aimed at Jews, Roman Catholics or Muslims.

Takei says moving the Games wouldn't seem like an outlandish proposal if the discrimination was faced by those groups.

Thousands of Takei's followers have already weighed in on the proposal.

"Don't go to Russia and be beat by Putin, come to Canada to eat some poutine!" one poster, Kevin Dutrisac, writes on Facebook.

• Vancouver gay-rights activists smooch at Russian consulate

Although most commentators seem to be supportive, some question whether moving the Games will have the biggest impact.

"The best thing would be to expose the Russians' outlandish laws by massive demonstrations. Entire national teams should march in and out of the ceremonies with rainbow pins," writes Thomas McGowan in the comments section of Takei's blog post.

British actor and writer Stephen Fry also called Wednesday for the Olympics to be moved, writing in a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron and IOC executives asking them not to give Russian President Vladimir Putin "the approval of the civilized world."

"It is simply not enough to say that gay Olympians may or may not be safe in their village. The IOC absolutely must take a firm stance on behalf of the shared humanity it is supposed to represent against the barbaric, fascist law that Putin has pushed through the Duma," he writes in the letter, which he has since posted online.

"Let us not forget that Olympic events used not only to be athletic, they used to include cultural competitions. Let us realize that in fact, sport is cultural. It does not exist in a bubble outside society or politics."

[Warhippy]

Ok, the reason I am ok with this is monetary and simple. We spent almost Billions(?) on the previous Olympics. But almost 85% of the money spent was building infrastructure, we almost broke even on the event barring the stupid condos all of BC paid for but only Vancouver got to use. If we think about this right now, no city has hosted them twice in consecutive years and as of now we'd spend a fraction of the money to host them again while raking in all of the money, all of the tourism, all of the basic profits. One expenditure and 2 Olympic games could net this province and this city billions. Your thoughts on having Canada win gold again on home ice

[-Vintage Canuck-]

[DeNiro]

[etsen3]

Wait I didn't realize they were actually serious. Sure the facilities are there, but they are already being used during that time. Plus hasn't Richmond Oval been converted to a multi-purpose rec centre? Olympic Village now has people living in it.

And good luck finding volunteers, planning events, getting security together, etc. Not to mention the costs. Sure it would be cool to have the Olympics here again, but it's completely ridiculous to think it will actually happen for 2014.

It's not like this petition is going to change Russian society's homophobic views anyways. It will have to come from inside and it will take time, they're not gonna change their ways just to fit the rest of the world's opinion of them.

[MikeyBoy44]

Wait is true that this means gay athletes cannot participate in the Olympics?

[Electro Rock]

The same people behind Monsanto, the NSA and the like are behind the use of using activist groups and NGOs as a front to destabilize countries that won't play ball.

[RonMexico]

So I think the point is that Vancouver hold hold the Olympics, but it wouldn't be the big spectacle it was 3 years ago.

6 months to refurbish the oval? Sure.

6 months to re-schedule the BC Place and Rogers Centre games? Yeah I think they could work something out.

They could get all the venues good to go and host the events, but they would probably need an extra week for the games, they'd not be able to sell as many tickets, and may have to use alternate sites for some of the events. (Like, do the moguls in SLC or Lake Louise or something).