According to Glaad’s website, the actor wrote festival director Maria Averbakh a letter stating his reason to decline to the event. ‘Thank you for your kind invitation. As someone who has enjoyed visiting Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would make me happy to say yes. However, as a gay man, I must decline.”

Currently, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has passed a law prohibiting adoption of Russian-born children to national and international same-sex couples. “I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward the treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government,” continues Miller. “The situation is no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly.”

Miller isn’t the only person speaking out against the Russian government. While Russian athletes, Kseniya Ryzhova and Yulia Gushchina, deny that they were sending a message, their kiss on the victory podium at the world championships came at a very ironic time. Ryzhova noted that she and her counterparts were simply overcome by emotion. “For eight years we have not won a gold medal. You can’t imagine what it was like, when we understood that we’d won,” said the athlete to Russian reporters. “Myself and Yulia are both married and we are not having any type of relationship.”

The current situation has raises many concerns as Russia prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Shanika Simmons

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