Yesterday, February 7, I changed my Facebook cover photo to a screen grab of Google’s most recent doodle, a direct response to the Russian government’s anti-gay legislation that forms a rainbow, using colored-illustrations of winter sport athletes for each of the six letters in the Google name. Under the search bar, Google placed an extract from the Olympic charter that reads:

“The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

Within a matter of minutes, a friend of mine (and current Google employee) “liked” the image. I responded to his “like” by tagging him and saying, “employer pride!” His response? “The most :-)”

Today, while scrolling through my Facebook feed, I came across an article about Daniel Ezralow, a choreographer I once had the pleasure of dancing for on a five-month Italian-tour that took me to over forty cities, and remains one of my favorite experiences as a professional modern dancer. The article, Olympics Opening Ceremony Choreographer Leaps from Spider-Man to Sochi, was the first I’d heard of Ezralow’s participation as choreographer for the Winter Olympics, and was written to give viewers some opening ceremony insider information, straight from its creator. It had been liked and shared by multiple “friends” of mine—some of whom were dancers I worked with under Ezralow’s direction. (The title’s mention of Spider-man refers to Ezralow’s participation in the recently-closed Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.)

Given that Ezralow’s career as a famed dancer and choreographer was built on the work of many gay men and women, and Russia’s legislated stance against its own LGBT community, as well as any LGBT tourists, I seriously questioned how Ezralow could justify his latest gig. As a gay man, I admit I took it a little personally, too. Having just relished in a friend’s “employer pride” over Google’s not-so-subtle condemning of Russia’s policy of LGBT discrimination, it was only more disappointing to read the interview and hear Ezralow’s rationale for his participation.

“As for whether the ceremony will address the international criticism of Russia’s policy towards gays, Ezralow says, ‘If we choose as humans to only focus on the negative, we will only see the negative.’”

Really? You’re prescription for dealing with a dominant world-power’s discrimination against a class of citizens is to don a pair of rose-colored classes and just Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive?

I’m not sure if Mr. Ezralow’s dance history is just dusty or outright lacking, but I’d like to offer him another perspective on how to handle facing “the negative” as humans—a famous example from Martha Graham around her company’s invitation to perform at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games:

“I would find it impossible to dance in Germany at the present time. So many artists whom I respect and admire have been persecuted, have been deprived of the right to work for ridiculous and unsatisfactory reasons, that I should consider it impossible to identify myself, by accepting the invitation, with the regime that has made such things possible. In addition, some of my concert group would not be welcomed in Germany.”

As a former dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Company, I can tell you it is with great pride that the company mentions Graham’s noble refusal during its pre-show talks; the strength of her contribution to modern dance is seen in direct correlation to the strength of her character.

Mr. Ezralow also said in the article, “’I am not here to make a political statement with my work, I am not here to show you how terrible or tragic life can be, I’m here to inspire you.’”

Well, consider this:

“When journalist Yelena Klimova posted an enraged column about the propaganda law to a news website, she got a reaction she didn’t expect: An underage lesbian from provincial Russia reached out to thank her for the column, saying it had helped keep her from committing suicide. Klimova kept up the correspondence with the girl and set up Children-404, an online group hosted by Russia’s top social networking website, which allows gay and lesbian teens to post supportive letters to each other.

Now Klimova is facing trial this month in her Urals hometown of Nizhny Tagil, after several complaints were filed by a Russian lawmaker famous for championing anti-gay legislation.”

I had a good past experience dancing for Mr. Ezralow. His work is not particularly “deep” or anywhere near approaching greatness, but it is often fun and pleasing to watch. He will never be a Great Artist but his contributions as a dancer and choreographer are unarguably present. However, with his most recent attempt to establish fame and fortune—er, I mean, to inspire the world—he has truly choreographed his worst dance to date.

Forgive me for not joining friends and former colleagues in applauding Ezralow and his stated Pollyannaish, inspiration-centered approach to his work. It’s just that I find wielding a moral compass and bravely being part of the solution—rather than a discriminatory regime’s propaganda—much more inspiring.

I wonder if Google is hiring…