who is openly gay is hoping to nab a spot on the u.s. team. a growing concern over a new and vaguely worded russian law aimed at banning gay propaganda. with the games six months away, international fire storm is brewing over russia s crackdown on gay rights. president obama has spoken out against the law twice noting while he finds the law offensive, he rejects the idea of an outright olympic boycott. i want to just make very clear right now i do not think it s appropriate to boycott the olympics. we ve got a bunch of americans out there who are training hard who are doing everything they can to succeed. the law passed unanimously in june is supported by an overwhelming majority of russians. russian president vladimir putin publicly defended the law earlier this summer. this is not about imposing any kind of sanctions against homosexuality, he said, this is about protecting children. many in the u.s. beg to differ
citizens, other citizens to target gay people for violence and even death. julia, could you give some context here? if you re kind of a chart of what it s like to be gay in russia, is there some inflection point in the last year, six months, where it gets much worse? my sense from the reporting i ve been reading is that the answer to that is yes, but i m curious what you think. it s gotten worse, but before that, it was getting better. you know, among the islands of intolerance and violence, there are also islands of tolerance and acceptance. that s how it happens in every country. you know, when you know that your brother is gay or a friend of yours is gay and you know
anti-gay raws in russia is justifiably growing. how much is at stake coming. we begin with 30 years of tough on policies and laws starting to unrival. sea change movement for criminal justice and race. today speaking to the american bar association, attorney general eric holder announced in low-level non-violent drug cases federal prosecutors will be instructed to leave out the amount of an illegal substance in their criminal complaint in order to avoid triggering federal mandatory minimums. a move that could be the start of a truly seismic shift in federal drug policy. in new york, a landmark decision on the stop and frisk practice of the nypd. this morning the federal district judge found nypd stop and frisk program violates the constitutional rights of people of color in new york. writing that the nypd carries out more stops where there are more black and hispanic resident s when other relevant variables are held. the census track predicts the
the president intends to go to russia in september. you won t say moscow i have nothing else astay for you. deliberately vague. that s for you to decide. reporter: last month president obama didn t want russia s refusal to extradite snowden to reflect relations with the u.s. i m not going to have one case of a suspect who we re trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where i ve got to start doing wheeling and dealing. reporter: putin seems to agree saying he wants this snowden situation resolved. translator: we have warned mr. snowden that any harm he might do to russian/u.s. relations is unacceptable. president obama has made clear he has bigger issues with russia than snowden. russia has repeatedly thwarted more attempts by the u.s. to put pressure on syria and iran. it creates this optics problem kate and chris when the
attention. reporter: republican senator lindsey graham has got. attention suggesting the u.s. boycott the olympics in sochi, russia. while not speculating on ap. olympic boycott white house spokesman jay carney seemed to be deliberately vague about obama s plans to visit st. petersburg russia. the president sbepintends to to russia. deliberately vague. that s for you to decide. reporter: last month president obama didn t want snowden to reflect relations with the u.s.. i m not going to have one case of a suspect who we re trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where i ve got to start doing