Move the Miss Universe pageant out of Russia
Dear Mr. Trump,
As one of the Human Rights Campaign's more than 1.5 million members and supporters, I ask that you immediately move the Miss Universe pageant out of Russia this year and instead to a country with greater respect for basic human rights.
As you mentioned in your press release last Tuesday, Russia recently passed a repressive anti-LGBT "propaganda" law, and the government has already begun cracking down not just on LGBT Russians, but also on pro-equality supporters. Politics aside, this law permits a heinous attack on human rights that we simply cannot ignore.
Just imagine: What would happen if one of this year's competitors said something to support LGBT equality? Would Russian forces storm the stage and drag her away? Throw her in jail? Deport her? That's the very real threat that people in Russia live with every day under the nation's heinous anti-LGBT "propaganda" law.
As co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization, you have the option to choose the pageant's host city. I appeal to you to send a message to the Russians that their hate-fueled law will come at great financial and political cost by going further than just a press release, and selecting another city right away.
