Deb, I'll try to be constructive. Not meaning to confront with you, can I ask you to comment on some of my questions, please?
What makes them think they might be arrested? I hope you have heard about the law statement (that was mentioned many times here), I mean what this law prohibits and what it does not.
You are saying "A lot of people in the US ... fear that gay athletes, tourists, or journalists might be arrested" - are those people in the US deliberately misinformed? What do you think of it? How do the local mass media interprete what is the Russian law about?
And, do you, yourself, believe the gay guests might be arrested? If yes, then why?
Here I fully agree with you.
But there is another question to you:
How, do you think, we are supposed to know "that athlete is a gay"? Do you think a sports TV commentator would announce: "and now runs Mr N. from the United States, a gay athlete"? Is it what you mean?
This would seem as silly to me as, e.g., classifying male guests into two groups (sorry, this is a rude example, but not meaning to insult anyone - just for the sake of analogy): men who prefer urinating sitting and men who prefer urinating standing. Just imagine a commentator saying:
"Number 11 is Mr K. He is 22 years old. And yes, he likes urinating sitting".
"And number 15 is Mr. L. A famous athlete from X-land. Yes, forgot to mention it, that guy likes urinating standing!"
Can you see the analogy in my example? Do you understand why I provided it?
I do not But here's my last question to you: What do you think their rights should be? How do you understand it? And why do you think they are oppressed in modern Russia?