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I think is absolutely incredible
actually to be on the ground today.
We're a global team at All Out
and we've met over 50 members
that have come out especially
to help us hand over this petition
of 300,000 signatures against
Russia's anti-gay crackdown.
It’s just the most amazing feeling
to meet the people whose lives are changing
and to really feel that our work is actually making a massive difference.
This meeting was historic.
It’s the first time the IOC
even met with a gay rights organization
and it was so inspiring to see the impact that
more than 320,000 All Out members who signed the petition,
people who shared it on Facebook, on Twitter,
and urged their friends and family to sign the petition.
Actually their voice was heard.
I don't understand why in the modern civilized world
anyone would think
it would be illegal to hold hands with your husband
in the same year
that my American partner
can now sponsor me for a green card in the USA.
It seems to be a retrograde step.
We are so scared that if we go there,
one day my wife and her daughter who are Russian,
could get stuck over there
or the four of us could be arrested.
So that’s very hard
to not be able to do something as simple as see the family.
When we see friends in some countries
are persecuted, it's not ok.
We have to be together,
we have to give a sign of solidarity.
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