Gay athletes and fans attending the 2013 Sochi Winter Olympics next month were given new assurances by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Associated Press reported.
But Putin still claimed to support Russia's anti-gay law when he equated gays with pedophiles. He said birth rates in Russia could only be increased when it would take the step of "cleansing" itself of homosexuality.
According to the AP, the wide gulf between the perception of homosexuality in Russia versus the West was clear by the comments made by Putin in an interview broadcast Sunday with Russian and foreign television stations.
An international outcry was sparked when a Russian law was passed last year banning "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" among minors.
"Putin refused to answer a question from the BBC on whether he believes that people are born gay or become gay," the AP reported. "The Russian law, however, suggests that information about homosexuality can influence a child's sexual orientation."
With rights activists reporting a rise in harassment and abuse, the law has contributed to growing animosity toward gays in Russian society. Russian officials and Olympics organizers have made assurances to international worries that gays will be rightly treated in Sochi. Putin reiterated that stance and said there will be no discrimination.
"There are no fears for people with this non-traditional orientation who plan to come to Sochi as guests or participants," Putin declared in the TV interview.
Aimed at banning propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia, the law suggests gays are more likely to abuse children, he said.
Putin proudly claimed that Russia saw more births than deaths last year for the first time in two decades, suggesting his stance against homosexuality, the AP reported.
Population growth is vital for Russia's development and "anything that gets in the way of that we should clean up," he said, using a word usually reserved for military operations.
Pointing to laws that remain on the books in some U.S. states that classify gay sex as a crime, Putin accused the United States of double standards in its criticism of Russia. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ruled in 2003 that such laws were unconstitutional, the AP reported.
Until its collapse in 1991, homosexuality was a crime in the entire former Soviet Union. It was decriminalized in Russia in 1993.
