Russian Athletes Probably Weren't Kissing for Gay Rights

While the story of the Russian female runners — Kseniya Ryzhova and Tatyana Firova — who recently kissed on a podium in Moscow after winning a 4x400m relay to supposedly protest their country’s new and dangerous anti-gay legislation was certainly a heartening and inspiring one, it was also — unfortunately — blown way out of proportion.

From Jennifer Vanasco at the Columbia Journalism Review:

Anyone doing a quick Google search can find the video from the event — because of course the track world championships were televised. In the video, you can see that each of the women [on the team] shared a quick, social kiss with each other in the standard European way. There was nothing romantic or political about it — it was the equivalent of a back slap, over in seconds.

When a kiss is just a kiss — or barely even that [Columbia Journal Review]