DECENCY POLICE

IOC Updates Social Media Policy After Citing “That’s So Gay” As Appropriate Language

1014474_10151744520444216_1498564686_nThe International Olympic Committee’s official Facebook page for The Olympic Games is seeing some of the best traffic right now, and not for very good reasons.

After basically lying about anti-gay Russian legislation not applying to tourists and athletes during the 2014 Games in Sochi, many took to the IOC’s Facebook page to express their outrage.

That’s when “equal rights campaigner” Julie Price noticed some strange language in the IOC’s social media moderation policy. Naturally, she alerted The Federation of Gay Games and GLAAD.

Here’s what the “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual” section of the policy stated:

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL
It is acceptable for a user to refer to his/her sexuality as gay, however we need to be careful with potentially defamatory posts accusing someone else of being gay — these will be removed.
It is acceptable for users to use the word “gay” in a light-hearted “street talk” manner, e.g. “that’s so gay” — but if used to be discriminatory it will be removed.

Yes, that’s right. You can say “that’s so gay,” as long as it’s in a “light-hearted street talk manner.” Something like “lol, that’s the worst social media policy ever. How gay.”

Late yesterday evening, and without an announcement, the IOC updated their social media policy, presumably after a group of executives were like “Can you believe people read our social media policy? That’s so gay.”

The new policy reads in part:

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL
It is acceptable for a user to refer to his/her sexuality as gay, however we need to be careful with potentially defamatory posts accusing someone else of being gay — these will be removed. It is of course acceptable for users to use the word “gay” in a general way — but if used to be discriminatory it will be removed.”

“The IOC has a responsibility to ensure its athletes and their fans are safe whether in the stands in Russia or following on Facebook from home,” said GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz. “This policy was outdated and wouldn’t be acceptable in a high school, much less on a page where millions of users interact.”

Talk of boycotting the 2014 Olympics is still hot. GLAAD announced this week that representatives will be “meeting with advocates from Russia to discuss ways to elevate their voices in the media.”

Meanwhile, we wonder what Johnny Weir will look like in handcuffs next year?

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