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"Cher is standing up for her legions of fans, many of whom are gay, by sitting down. In a recent interview with Canada&amp;apos;s MacLean&amp;apos;s magazine, the legendary diva revealed that she was asked to perform at next year&amp;apos;s winter Olympics, hosted by Russia, but refused the offer because of the country&amp;apos;s anti-gay laws. (Russia passed a bill this summer that essentially bans the public discussion or display of gay rights in front of minors, as well as gay couples from adopting Russian-born children.)\r\n\r\nThe 67-year-old singer and Oscar-winning actress, whose son Chaz Bono is transgendered, told the magazine that her friend &amp;quot;who is a big oligarch over there,&amp;quot; asked her to open the Olympics in Sochi. &amp;quot;I immediately said no. I want to know why all of this gay hate just exploded over there. He said the Russian people don&amp;apos;t feel the way the government does,&amp;quot; she said.\r\n\r\nCher reiterated her feelings on Twitter, where her bio section reads &amp;quot;Stand &amp;amp; B Counted or Sit &amp;amp; B Nothing. Don&amp;apos;t Litter,Chew Gum,Walk Past Homeless PPL w/out Smile.DOESNT MATTER in 5 yrs IT DOESNT MATTER THERE&amp;apos;S ONLY LOVE&amp;amp;FEAR.&amp;quot; On Sept. 13, she tweeted, &amp;quot;Why? I have MANY RUSSIAN FRIENDS, THAT ARE KIND, LOVING,FUN &amp;amp; HAVE NOTHING AGAINST GAY FRIENDS ?&amp;quot; with a link to an article on PolicyMic about Russia&amp;apos;s anti-gay bill.\r\n\r\nThe &amp;quot;Believe&amp;quot; singer isn&amp;apos;t the only celebrity who has railed against the country&amp;apos;s homophobic legislation. In a letter, written in August, to the organizers of the St. Petersburg International Film Festival in Russia, Prison Break star Wentworth Miller turned down its offer to attend -- and publicly announced he&amp;apos;s gay in the process. He wrote that he could not participate &amp;quot;in good conscience&amp;quot; because of the country&amp;apos;s discriminatory laws."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/cher-turns-down-offer-to-perform-at-russian-olympics-because-of-homophobic-laws-2013169>