In an interview with BBC reporter John Sweeney for the current affairs programme Panorama, Anatoly Pakhomov, the Mayor of Sochi, claimed there were no gay people in Sochi.
Pressed on Russia’s law on ‘gay propaganda’ and the international calls to boycott the games, Pakhomov said homosexuals were welcome at the Sochi Olympics and would be safe, he said: “Our hospitality will be extended to everyone who respects the laws of the Russian Federation and doesn’t impose their habits on others.”
When asked if gay people had to hide their sexuality in Sochi, he added: “No, we just say that it is your business, it’s your life. But it’s not accepted here in the Caucasus where we live. We do not have them in our city.”
Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov challenged the Mayor’s comments, saying: “As far as I know there are several gay clubs in Sochi… how do they survive? Why they are not bankrupt? ”
When challenged, the mayor admitted that he was not certain there were no gay people in Sochi, adding: “I am not sure, but I don’t bloody know them.”
In the Panorama special which focussed on corruption at the Sochi Olympic Games, John Sweeney visited a gay bar in Sochi the evening before he interviewed the Mayor.
While most people in the club did not want to be interviewed or appear on camera, drag queen Madame Zhu-Zha assured Sweeney there was a gay community in the city and more widely across Russia.
She said: “There are very many clubs for gay people in Moscow – in Sochi we have two gay clubs. In some places there’s serious prejudice against gay people. In other places it’s not as bad.”
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