The propaganda law had been characterized by the Western media and other critics as a ban on 'gay propaganda', arguing that it was broad enough to ban any public display of LGBT symbols and suppress LGBT culture. The law itself was also considered to have caused an increase in homophobic violence, and an increase in the arrest of pro-LGBT protesters. The implications of the law on the then-upcoming Winter Olympics were a major concern among athletes and the Western media, as the Olympic Charter contains language explicitly denouncing all forms of discrimination.