Kazakhstan Must Respect Olympic Charter, Says IOC

(ATR) The IOC has responded to concerns from LGBT sports advocacy group Athlete Ally over planned anti-gay legislation in possible 2022 Olympic host Kazakhstan.

A total of 27 Olympians signed a letter urging IOC president Thomas Bach to put pressure on the Kazakhstan government to stop the draft bill becoming law.

"Under your leadership, non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been enshrined in the Olympic Charter and placed in the Olympic Host City contracts," the letter said.

"The Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms you championed are a powerful step forward for the global sports community. However, implementation will be key.

"In light of Kazakhstan’s aspirations to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and their recent consideration of legislation prohibiting ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation’ we urge the IOC to reiterate to Kazakh

authorities that discrimination with regard to sexual orientation is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement."

Russia’s anti-gay law in the build-up to the Sochi 2014 Games sparked worldwide criticism from human rights groups and LBGT activists and led to some calls to boycott the Games. The global outcry forced the IOC to amend the Olympic Charter to protect the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender athletes and fans during the Sochi Games.

The IOC notified Athlete Ally that it would enforce the Olympic Charter.

"It is our responsibility to make sure the Olympic Charter is fully respected for all participants of the Olympic Games," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams tells Around the Rings.

"As part of Olympic Agenda 2020, we recently changed our Fundamental Principle 6 of the Charter to include an explicit bar on any form of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. This clause is included in the Host City Contract which any city staging the Games must sign."

It means that should Almaty defeat Beijing to secure hosting rights to the 2022Winter Games at the IOC Session in July, the Kazakh government will have to comply with the Charter.

However, ATR understands that the anti-gay draft legislation has a long way to go if it is to become law at all.

At the current time, the country’s constitutional council is said to have cited problems with the so-called Law on the Protection of Children from Information Harming their Health and Development.

The proposed legislation, which bans the promotion of gay propaganda to minors, is understood to be similar to the Russian law that was approved in June 2013.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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