Dear Ms.Averbakh: Thank you for your kind invitation. As someone who has enjoyed visiting Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would make me happy to say yes。 However, as a gay man, I must decline。 I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government. The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly。 Perhaps, when and if circumstances improve, I'll be free to make a different choice。 Until then。 Wentworth Miller
