So as a leaders of it's "sister-city" the Long Beach City Council felt the pressure to do something about the situation in Sochi surrounding discrimination against the LGBT community in Russia in light of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games.
Mind you this action is well after regional laws went into effect in Sochi ahead of the controversial national laws, and only after a petition to sever the "sister-city" relationship with Sochi had earned around 800 signatures. Sever Long Beach-Sochi 'Sister City' Petition,
Quoting from the Agenda:
"CITY OF LONG BEACH TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA 333 W. OCEAN BOULEVARD COUNCIL CHAMBER, 4:30 PM
Mind you this action is well after regional laws went into effect in Sochi ahead of the controversial national laws, and only after a petition to sever the "sister-city" relationship with Sochi had earned around 800 signatures. Sever Long Beach-Sochi 'Sister City' Petition,
Quoting from the Agenda:
"CITY OF LONG BEACH TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA 333 W. OCEAN BOULEVARD COUNCIL CHAMBER, 4:30 PM
...
Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution
condemning the discriminatory laws against the LGBT community in
Russia and strongly urge our sister city of Sochi to join our protest; ask
the Long Beach/Sochi Sister City Association to work with the Human
Relations Commission and the Center Long Beach to begin a dialogue
on next steps to address these human rights violations.
[sponsoring] Office or Department:
COUNCILMEMBER JAMES JOHNSON, SEVENTH DISTRICT;
VICE MAYOR ROBERT GARCIA, COUNCILMEMBER, FIRST DISTRICT;
COUNCILWOMAN GERRIE SCHIPSKE, FIFTH DISTRICT "
Larry Goodhue spoke.
[sponsoring] Office or Department:
COUNCILMEMBER JAMES JOHNSON, SEVENTH DISTRICT;
VICE MAYOR ROBERT GARCIA, COUNCILMEMBER, FIRST DISTRICT;
COUNCILWOMAN GERRIE SCHIPSKE, FIFTH DISTRICT "
Quoting from the Minutes:
"CITY OF LONG BEACH CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
"CITY OF LONG BEACH CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
333 W. OCEAN BOULEVARD
COUNCIL CHAMBER, 4:30 PM
...
[All council members spoke]
...
[All council members spoke]
Ron Sylvester, Chairman, and Porter Gilberg, Administrative Director,
Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Center, spoke.
Herlinda Chico, Executive Board Member of Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club, spoke.
David Zanatta, Chairman of Sister Cities of Long Beach, Inc., spoke.
A motion was made by Councilmember Johnson, seconded by Councilwoman Schipske, to approve recommendation, as amended, to: [1] request that the Human Relations Commission invite the Lambda Democratic Club to participate in the dialog on potential next steps that will address discriminatory laws against the LGBT community in Russia; [2] invite any interested group or organization to contact the Long Beach Sochi Sister City Association concerning delegation trips to Sochi, Russia; and [3] request that the adopted resolution be posted at Recreation Park near the Sochi Tree or other place designated by City staff. The motion carried by the following vote:
Yes: 9 - Garcia, Lowenthal, DeLong, O'Donnell, Schipske, Andrews, Johnson, Austin and Neal" [i.e. unanimous]
The good news is they did something.
Further bad news is that with the changes made to include provisions for delegations to go to Sochi to discus this very issue, Long Beach citizens are set up for potential violation of these laws leading to their arrest and deportation. Somehow that doesn't seem very smart.
The bad news is it's pretty much not really doing anything that has any meaning.
Sochi already had similar anti-gay propaganda laws governing it before the national laws, so protesting the national laws now would seem a bit odd. Even if the idea of protesting the national laws in this way was actually a reasonable and safe thing for officials in Sochi to do, which I have serious doubts about.
This action is really just a plan to make a general statement of
'We don't approve, and we want you to not approve, and we'd like to help you understand why we don't approve. BUT we have no intention of doing anything else about our disproval.'
Herlinda Chico, Executive Board Member of Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club, spoke.
David Zanatta, Chairman of Sister Cities of Long Beach, Inc., spoke.
A motion was made by Councilmember Johnson, seconded by Councilwoman Schipske, to approve recommendation, as amended, to: [1] request that the Human Relations Commission invite the Lambda Democratic Club to participate in the dialog on potential next steps that will address discriminatory laws against the LGBT community in Russia; [2] invite any interested group or organization to contact the Long Beach Sochi Sister City Association concerning delegation trips to Sochi, Russia; and [3] request that the adopted resolution be posted at Recreation Park near the Sochi Tree or other place designated by City staff. The motion carried by the following vote:
Yes: 9 - Garcia, Lowenthal, DeLong, O'Donnell, Schipske, Andrews, Johnson, Austin and Neal" [i.e. unanimous]
The good news is they did something.
Further bad news is that with the changes made to include provisions for delegations to go to Sochi to discus this very issue, Long Beach citizens are set up for potential violation of these laws leading to their arrest and deportation. Somehow that doesn't seem very smart.
The bad news is it's pretty much not really doing anything that has any meaning.
Sochi already had similar anti-gay propaganda laws governing it before the national laws, so protesting the national laws now would seem a bit odd. Even if the idea of protesting the national laws in this way was actually a reasonable and safe thing for officials in Sochi to do, which I have serious doubts about.
This action is really just a plan to make a general statement of
'We don't approve, and we want you to not approve, and we'd like to help you understand why we don't approve. BUT we have no intention of doing anything else about our disproval.'
