If you’ve taken a gander at world news in recent months, you know that Russia is not a good place to be openly gay. Not even if you’re a well-know television host/personality.
E! News is reporting that openly gay Bravo producer Andy Cohen has announced that he is bowing out as host of the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which will be held in Russia, citing the fact that the country’s “discriminatory policies make it unsafe for the gays who live there and gays coming to work or visit” as the reason.
Cohen, who co-hosted the pageant in 2011 and 2012, added: “The law is that anyone under suspicion of homosexuality can be arrested,” and that he “didn’t feel right as a gay man stepping foot into Russia.”
As you may know, Russia has lost a great deal of respect throughout the world since it implemented a new law that bans “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations around minors.”
The Miss Universe Pageant will take place on Nov. 9 at Crocus City Hall in Moscow but a petition on Change.org with over 20,000 supporters is working to fight against that.
What do you think about Andy Cohen’s decision to boycott Russia?
