Music megastar Cher has refused to perform at the opening of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, due to Russia's increasing persecution of gay people. New laws make it a criminal offense in Russia to talk about homosexuality or be visibly homosexual wherever it might be heard or seen by anyone under the age of eighteen. Violence against glbti Russians is subsequently on the increase. "I can’t name names but my friend called who is a big oligarch over there and asked me if I’d like to be an ambassador for the Olympics and open the show," she says. "I immediately said no. I want to know why all of this gay hate just exploded over there. He said the Russian people don’t feel the way their government does." Cher, who has a transgender son, Chaz, says she understands persecution and discrimination, giving as an example the abuse she and then-singing partner Sony Bono endured early in their career "because we looked and dressed differently to other people."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 16th September 2013 - 8:45am