Gay-rights activist detained at Olympic Park

SOCHI, Russia – An Italian activist shouting “It’s OK to be gay” and dressed in a rainbow-colored outfit and large headdress, was detained Monday as she entered an arena to watch an Olympic hockey game.

Vladimir Luxuria, a former Communist lawmaker in the Italian parliament who has become a prominent transgender rights crusader and television personality, was stopped by four men, then driven away by police in a car with Olympic markings.

Luxuria later told the Associated Press she was kept in the car for about 10 minutes, then released in the countryside after the men had taken away her Olympic spectator pass. She eventually made it back to her hotel and said she was leaving Russia this morning.

“They don’t say anything. They just were people who had to do this and they did it,” she said.

Earlier Monday, Luxuria walked around the Olympic Park in Sochi for about two hours. She was shouting “Gay is OK” and “It’s OK to be gay” in both English and Russian.

As she was led away from Shayba Arena, she shouted, “I have a ticket.”

Luxuria said she was detained on Sunday evening by Russian police who told her she should not wear clothes with slogans supporting gay rights. Police denied detaining her.

The Italian activist walked around the Olympic Park on Monday with a group of journalists, attracting onlookers. Some Russian fans stopped to pose for photos with her.

“I was very, very afraid this time because the first time they said, ‘It’s OK for the first time, don’t do it again for the second time.’

“So, this time I was a little bit afraid,” she said. “But they just left me outside, in the country … and that’s it.”

Before she went to the stadium, she said she did not want to be arrested.

“It’s not nice to be all alone in a room with a neon light not knowing what’s going on,” she said.