I watched the men’s short figure skating competition yesterday, and boy was it fabulous. One after the other, obvious homosexuals skated out onto the rink to twirl, jump and gracefully glide in all their glory. Surely this can’t be happening in Russia, I thought to myself. I expected that at any moment, spetznaz commandos would storm the arena to arrest these men, enforcing Russia’s strict, homophobic laws.

...

I was astounded. Maybe, I thought, just maybe, the Russians aren’t such totalitarian fanatics as our news outlets make them out to be. Maybe they don’t really harbor violent hatred toward gays, but rather just want some respect for the traditional values they hold dear.

What a novel thought— A people who value tradition who are neither violent nor hateful, but instead pretty much decent human beings.