Boycotts only hurt athletes

Re: “Most support stand on gay rights: Baird; NDP urges him to keep battling against attacks on gays in Russia,” the Journal, Aug. 9. The recent controversy surrounding the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia seems to have a political slant. Is the goal to gain the gay vote, embarrass the host country or create turmoil?

If a boycott occurs, only the athletes will suffer. They will miss out on the chance to compete after years of training and might be too old to even qualify for the next Olympics.

In 1980 many countries, led by the United States, boycotted the Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Red Army’s presence in Afghanistan. I did not see any similar protest when NATO and its cronies laid waste to the same country.

Every sovereign country has a right to enact its own laws. Anti-gay laws in a host of other nations are much worse than Russia’s. But the do-gooders don’t go after them because they know the effort would be futile.

It would be better if they went after countries where human beings are treated as chattel and their suffering knows no end. Canada was in the forefront when whiteled South Africa faced strict sanctions and became a pariah among nations. Its rulers soon realized their days were numbered.

Freedom for blacks followed and today, despite disparity in their economic life, their country is a proud member of the community of nations.