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Russian Runners Kiss, Photo Goes Viral

By Dan Evon
Published on: 07:44 PST, Aug 19, 2013

Two female Russian runners shared a kiss after their gold medal victory at the World Track and Field Championships, and some say that the moment of affection was a political statement against the anti-gay laws in Russia.

Several people have been calling for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics due to a law in Russia that makes it illegal to give anyone under the age of 18 information on homosexuality.

When Russian runners Kseniya Ryzhova and Tatyana Firova shared a kiss this weekend, the moment was seen as a bold statement in favor of the LGBT community.

But not everyone sees it that way.

Sky News reports that the kiss was merely an act of celebration and was not a political statement about the anti-gay laws in Russia.

Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko also believes that the controversy over the law was “invented” by the Western media.

Mutko said: “I think this is kind of an invented problem. We don’t have a law banning non-traditional sexual relations, we have a different law. It is the informational protection of the young generation. We want to prevent the young generation, whose psyche has not been formulated. We want to protect them against drunkenness, drugs and non-traditional sexual relations. We want them to grow up and when they become adults they have to define what they want.”

Do you think the Russian runners were sharing a kiss in protest or celebration? Regardless, the photo of the kiss has sparked a major debate on social networking sites like Twitter.

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