Sochi mayor Anatoly Pakhomov says there are no gay people in his Russian town

The mayor of Sochi, Russia, which will host the 2014 Winter Olympics in less than two weeks, has told the BBC that there are no gay people in his town — despite the fact that several news outlets have now gone inside the city's unmarked gay clubs. 

Anatoly Pakhomov, the mayor of Sochi and a member of the ruling United Russia party, told the BBC's Panorama that his city's "hospitality will be extended to everyone who respects the laws of the Russian Federation and who doesn’t impose their habits and their will on others," he said. "But yes, everyone is welcome."

But when asked whether there were any gay people already in Sochi, the mayor balked. "We do not have them in our city," Pakhomov said. When challenged by the reporter who'd visited one of the city's gay bars the night before, the mayor admitted he wasn't certain that there were no gay people in Sochi.

Oh, but here is the video "Being Gay in Sochi" from CNN: