Obama to Leno on Russia: “No patience” for countries that try to intimidate or harm LGBT people

President Barack Obama was in town today to appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Jay had this question for the prez about Russia and its ant-gay propaganda law: “Suddenly homosexuality is against the law. I mean, this sounds like Germany with let’s round up the Jews. Let’s round up the gays. It starts with that. You round up people who you don’t like. I mean, why is not more of the world outraged by this?”

Obama replied that he has “no patience for countries that try to treat gays of lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”

In regards to the 2014 Olympics scheduled to be in Sochi, Russia, Leno asked Obama how the laws might impact the event, its participants and its spectators.

Said Obama: “You know, I think Putin and Russia have a big stake in making sure that the Olympics work, and I think that they understand that for most of the countries that participate in the Olympics, we wouldn’t tolerate gays and lesbians being treated differently. They are athletes. They are there to compete. And if Russia wants to uphold the Olympic spirit, then every judgment should be made on the track or in the swimming pool or the balance beam and people’s sexual orientation shouldn’t have anything to do with it.”