In the last couple of posts we’ve been talking about the relationship between culture and civil rights in Russia and the United States. These things converged in New York City last week at the Met’s opening gala for its performance of the magnificent Russian opera Eugene Onegin. Outside the Met protestors handed out leaflets denouncing Russia’s anti-LGBT laws, while inside a protestor shouted “Putin, end your war on Russian gays!” They chose this venue because the opera is Russian, but also because the composer, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, was gay.

Russia’s law banning “propaganda on nontraditional sexual relationships” – any public expression of support for LGBT rights – briefly stirred controversy last summer about the safety of LGBT athletes at the Sochi Olympics. That’s a reasonable concern, though not because there is any likelihood that the laws will be enforced against foreigners. For the most part Russia isn’t very good at enforcing any laws, and this is a much bigger danger. The gangs of Russian thugs who prey on the Russian LGBT community, and whose vicious attacks have been finding their way onto YouTube, are breaking Russian laws without the least fear of retribution. Of course, turning a blind eye to lawlessness is partially a reflection of the Kremlin’s support for the actions of the thugs. But it also represents a deeper problem: Putin, who considers himself above the law, is not very good at convincing the Russian people to behave lawfully. A country that engages in political show trials – for Navalny, for the members of Pussy Riot, for Magnitsy, for Khodarkovsky, etc. – is ultimately saying that there are no laws. Everybody knows it, including the police who blithely ignore “illegal” attacks on members of the LGBT community. So here is the billion dollar question: can Russia guarantee that it can protect LGBT athletes at Sochi from the thugs? Can it really just turn the switch and make the thugs stay home? Can it turn the switch and make the police protect LGBT athletes? Can it turn the switch and make local and regional administrators in Sochi and everywhere else that athletes may touch Russian soil protect LGBT athletes? If the answer is “no” (and what in the world would make anybody think it is “yes”?), then the only responsible course for the rest of the world is to keep their athletes home. It’s not even a political decision – it’s a simple matter of safety.

By the way, if you see the opera (which will be simulcast in theatres on October 5^th) pay close attention to Tchaikovsky’s romantic depiction of the uplifting, joyous harvest celebration at the Larin Estate. I’ve always wondered how audiences would react if this scene were reset in the American south. After all, those happy singing peasants were serfs (very near to slaves). The scene is entirely Tchaikovsky’s invention; Pushkin, author of the novel that inspired the opera and the great grandson of an African slave, seems to have been indifferent to peasants. He certainly didn’t bother to romanticize their lives; while they do sing as they harvest berries, it’s only because their master forces them to in order to prevent them from eating his fruit (chapter 3 verse 39).

See you at the Fredonia Opera House on Oct. 5^th for the sumulcast!