By Matt Brownsword and Julia Sandquist

The Olympics is a global event that challenges the best athletes from all over the world in an array of athletic competitions — however, it is also a global challenge to our morality, to our sense of what is right and wrong in the world, to our understanding of how to govern groups of people.  In 1936, the black American Jesse Owens famously won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics under the white-supremacist glare of Adolf Hitler.  In 2012, after the International Olympic Committee threatened to ban Saudi Arabia from participation in the London Olympics if they refused to bring female athletes, they sent women (Two of them!) to the Olympics for the first time ever — 112 years after the first female athlete competed at the Olympics.  This year, while women’s rights and racism are still a global issue, another humanitarian issue has taken center stage for the world’s inspection:  gay rights.

Sochi — and really Russia as a whole — is conspicuously against homosexuality: a new law was just passed that states that any Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender issues are not allowed to be discussed in front of minors.  These laws prohibit the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual practices” among minors. Through these laws, the Russian government intends to ban gay rights parades and prohibit discussion of gay issues on television and in newspapers out of fear that minors might be exposed to homosexuality.

In an attempt to reassure governments that do not prohibit expressions of homosexuality — which have been speaking out against these laws with concerns for gays’ safety — Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “One can feel calm and at ease,” but “just leave kids alone, please.”  Although Putin meant to alleviate the anxieties of governments with homosexual athletes and spectators, his suggestion of homosexuals’ corruptive influence only infuriated people even more.

Despite the calls to boycott the games, the United States is still participating, and to show its support for every athlete, gay or straight, President Obama has announced that his delegation of athletes to the Olympic Games will include an openly gay athlete, Billie Jean King. In addition, the United States, French, and German presidents are not expected to attend the 2014 Games — a clear jab at Putin.

So far, our government has made the right decision, for it has chosen to support gay travelers and athletes in Sochi alike. Boycotting the games will not solve any problems, and it would actually create more by increasing the tension and distrust between the United States and Russia. In addition, our athletes have prepared their whole lives for these games, so why let ignorant prejudice crush their dreams and goals? Why throw away all the hard work and dedication it takes to prepare for one of the most celebrated sporting events in the world? We can choose to stand up to prejudice by merely running away from the issue, or we can show the whole world that the United States is proud of its acceptance of gay people by attending the Olympic Games.

Now, does this mean the USA should mandate rainbow patches on all jerseys of the American athletes? Probably not.  However, the United States should be pushing this agenda as much as FIFA pushes its anti-racism agenda before the UEFA Champions League games; as much as the South African rugby team pioneered Nelson Mandela’s agenda of a South Africa sans apartheid. Every (or any) post game interview does not need to include some gay rights proposal, but there should be some attention drawn to the issues at hand.

For the future though, the International Olympic Committee should be more careful about the destinations it chooses for the Olympic Games, and ensure that everyone, gay or straight, is guaranteed equal rights at these venues.  Not only should the destination be safe for all participants and spectators, but it also should set a good example for the weaker and more fragile countries attending the Olympic Games — countries just beginning to experiment with democracy.

Currently, the United States and the world are mixed on how to view homosexuality. While Americans have become increasingly tolerant, with seventeen states legalizing same-sex marriage (9 in the last two years), there are still 33 states that ban it.  In addition, other countries — specifically Nigeria and Uganda — have passed laws banning any public displays of homosexual affection (never-mind marriage). In Nigeria, if an individual makes a public show of a same-sex relationship or if he or she registers, operates, or participates in a gay club or organization, that individual may be punished with a prison term of 10 years.

Moreover, by choosing Russia as the host, the International Olympic Committee indirectly validates the close-minded prejudices of lesser nations.  In the future, they should give these countries a reason to reevaluate their morals by having the olympic host country be a well-developed, humane nation where everyone is accepted and treated equally. If a host nation is meant to serve as a role model for the rest of the world, is Russia — with its recent approval of anti-gay laws — truly the best place to be granted the privilege of hosting the Olympic Games?  The answer to that question might finally be revealed during the 2014 Olympic Games, when the whole world will tune in to not only watch the athletes in Sochi, but the country of Russia as well.