The lesson here is very simple: these early signs of legislative hate giving license, albeit not legalization, to persecution, beatings and murder must be greeted with opprobrium from the rest of the world. Not with war, sanctions and weapons, which would be appropriate in stopping a pending genocide; but with actions like the ones Takei and Fry are proposing, which shows these sort of things are not welcomed by us. That stops it from going further.

Yes. I have been hearing all too often mocking remarks and complains about the actions of those protesting the Russian games, the ridiculousness of such a thing, the ridiculousness of people trying to have the games moved, etc.

Yes. It is ridiculous. None of these paths will be taken. The games will be played in Russia and they will be a time of excitement and ad campaigns and boredom, much like games of previous years and locations. But a conversation will be had, eyes will be opened, and statements like Takei's and Fry's and some bar in west hollywood will keep the conversation going and the eyes opening. And that's all we can do at this point. Is hope and pray and keep the conversation open, and hopefully, sooner rather than later, something will change. I don't know how it will change. I don't think the Olympics will be moved or boycotted to despair, but the Olympics have already shed light on an issue that would otherwise have taken a lot longer to come into full view.