PRA’s Jay Michaelson, author of the groundbreaking report Redefining Religious Liberty: The Covert Campaign Against Civil Rights, joins local NPR outlet WNPR News to discuss how anti-LGBTQ laws aren’t limited to Russia, they’re cropping up around the world.
Michaelson also discusses the current status of pro- and anti-LGBTQ laws around the U.S., and NFL hopeful Michael Sam coming out of the closet.
Listen to the audio of the interview here. Michaelson comes in at roughly 2:50.
“While visitors watching the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, enjoy spectacular feats of athletic ability from the world’s most accomplished athletes, those in Russia’s LGBT community anticipate laws that punish Russians for even suggesting that it’s okay to be gay, let alone live openly as a gay adult.
But, the conversation isn’t just about Russia, as you’ll hear. Russia’s anti-gay laws are just the leading edge of a bunch of similar laws in other countries, all of them meant to simultaneously quiet the call for gay rights and affirm for that country that we are not the decadent West.”