Gay At The Games: Snowboarding and Obama's Gay Message to Putin

Sports

On the first full day of Olympic events, lesbian snowboarder Cheryl Maas christened the snow in women's slopestyle, and the Gay Games' organizers began preparing Ohio for this summer's events.

Dutch snowboarder Cheryl Maas kicked off the first day of competition on Thursday in Sochi, in women's slopestyle snowboarding. Maas ended the qualification round in ninth place within her heat, qualifying her for the semifinal round taking place Sunday. The most exciting part, however, was when Maas flashed her colorful rainbow and unicorn glove (shown) to the camera at the end of her run. Watch the run here:

The organizers of the Gay Games, which will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, this summer, will air commercials during the Sochi opening ceremony Friday evening, jabbing at Russian President Vladimir Putin's hostile, anti-LGBT environment. According to LGBTQ Nation, the commercials will air in Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, Cleveland, and Akron, Ohio, as well as Buffalo, N.Y. Watch the spot here:

The White House would not initially confirm nor deny that sending a delegation with openly gay athletes and policymakers was a direct message to Russia's government regarding the country's antigay laws. Now, however, President Obama says everyone's suspicions were spot-on.
"There is no doubt we wanted to make it very clear that we do not abide by discrimination in anything, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation," Obama said Thursday to NBC News. "One of the wonderful things about the Olympics is that you are judged by your merit, how good you are regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love, and that I think is consistent with the spirit of the Olympics."