R&B star Rihanna has announced she will join the ranks of a group of international pop celebrities campaigning in support of gay rights in Russia.
The singer used Twitter over the weekend to post a photograph of herself wearing a hat bearing the P6 logo — a reference to the Principle Six of the Olympic Charter, which condemns all forms of discrimination.
Russia has faced an onslaught of international criticism after the passage last year of legislation banning the promotion of homosexuality among minors, a law that rights activists say is fostering intolerance toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals. The issue has received additional impetus with the holding of the Winter Olympics currently taking place in the southern Russian city of Sochi.
Rihanna linked on her Twitter account, which has more than 34 million followers, to an opinion piece in the New York Times newspaper that described the anti-gay law as "outrageously repressive."