Obama, Fry increase pressure on Russia as gay rights shape as key Sochi Olympics issue

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – With the Sochi Olympics just six months away, U.S. President Barack Obama, Stephen Fry and international gay rights group All Out have increased attention on Russia over its new anti-gay law.

Legislation signed off by President Vladimir Putin in June banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” threatens to provoke protests until the Feb. 7-23 Winter Games end.

Obama cancelled a planned September meeting in Moscow on Wednesday in a diplomatic rebuke over Russia’s harbouring of NSA leaker Edward Snowden, having also said in a television interview hours earlier that he had “no patience” with countries who discriminate against gay people.

Fry, the British author and actor, said banning Russia from staging the Olympics was “simply essential.”

Fry’s open letter to IOC President Jacques Rogge was delivered by All Out at Olympic headquarters in Lausanne along with a 320,000-name petition demanding action.