LGBT News russias new gay law

Oh Canada my home and native land I really love my country when you news networks do things like this! I really hope that we can keep the world eye on Russia so the Russia law won't pass.

 

Hmm. A man democratically elected that is de facto dictator for life, a country trying to strike back at those they perceive to have wronged them, a strong nationalist movement, minorities being made scapegoats, a minority being the subject of state sanctioned and encouraged violent bigotry, a world looking on that thinks the odd word here and there will make everything better and an Olympics about to be held in that country.

Anyone else see parallels with 1930s Germany?

EDIT: And Russia to have criminalsed homosexuality by the end of 2015 possibly as a capital offence is my prediction for post Sochi.

 

So he is like Stalin and Hitler put into one... well I think we are in trouble...

 

^ Actually, just a rehash of Stalin. Remember, Stalin sent more to concentration/death camps than Hitler ever did.

 

the world seems to take 1 step forward somewhere and 2 steps back somewhere else. Didn't india recently reinstate an anti-gay law after having it struck off a couple of years ago? backwards!

 

Well I meant in comparison with the Olympics thing and all that, but yeah

 

Guys, stop comparing Putin to 20th century dictators and start considering him as the 21st century Putin. He has a totally different attitude to those dictators and that makes him impossible to deal with if we only engage in outdated analogies.

He's too moderate (by Russian standards) for senior, impartial figures such as Lavrov to become dissident, and he's not so oppressive to warrant comparison to Hitler and Stalin or Western action against him. What is most important is that he actually realises the realities of Russia, and as such he can't be treated as an insane or uninformed dictator.

The best we can hope for is for Russians to act on their own to oust him, or at least the the West can accommodate Russian political/social émigrés. The worst thing that can happen is for a Western scare-mongering campaign/popular belief in a horrid Stalinist Russia, which will look like (as it is) ridiculous propaganda to most Russians who remember the Soviet days, and see Putin as fairly mild. It is up to Russia to solve Russia, and external interfering in Russian affairs has never really gone well.

 

Take Putin out of the game and you'll be left with a crap shoot as to who would seize power in the resulting vacuum. Imagine the people overthrowing him and Vladimir Zhirinovsky elbowing them out of the way so he can seize the throne. Patriarch Kirill would probably fancy his chances at establishing a theocracy too.

 

Of course the ban on "propaganda of non-traditional orientations" was just the start of what is likely to be a long campaign of hate and terrorism against the LGBTQ community. I've heard that the next law coming up on the docket is to allow the Russian government to remove children- even biological children- from same-sex couple households. (That's why Russian LGBT activist Masha Gessen, with two young sons, is calling it quits and moving to the USA)

 

Wow,look at those pretty comments,I have homoparental teachers at our school,I canot belive someone could say that to them,they are frankly the coolest parents ever.

We all media comments sections are filled with idiots xD

I hope that they let homoparental families in Canada,I think it's much more acceptabe to let families in than gay refugiees,it's hard to fake a family...

 

I heard parliament was too hesitant to do that, and that this is a resulting compromise.

 

Yeah I'm not gonna watch the Olympics this year I'm sticking with what i said before usually I enjoy the Olympics but knowing that people like me are going to be treated so horribly I can't enjoy it . I'm gonna just play my rpg games and just go to bed early and not watch this at all

 

The Olympics are a window into Russian society and a piece of history in the making, an opurtunity for activism and protest, I'm watching

 

Well Russia is the last place I want to go to.

I am surprised the UN hasn't said anything or any countries have tried to intervene in this..

---------- Post added 17th Jan 2014 at 10:27 AM ----------

Well Russia is the last place I want to go to.

I am surprised the UN hasn't said anything or any countries have tried to intervene in this..

---------- Post added 17th Jan 2014 at 10:27 AM ----------

Well Russia is the last place I want to go to.

I am surprised the UN hasn't said anything or any countries have tried to intervene in this..

 

Absolutely. We cannot get hung up on finding comparisons between modern situations and events of the past. While obviously there are important Drawing comparisons between Putin and Stalin/Hitler is no more helpful than comparing the number of horses we have in our army today to the figure 100 years ago: times have changed, and we cannot deal with new issues if we do not treat them separately to those of the past.

As said above, the issues in Russia (discriminatory laws, lack of freedom of speech, corruption) cannot be solved by Western countries trying to impose their democratic values on Russia, because our views on the correct way to govern a country are based on the society we have been raised in. While in the West, democracy is a given and the idea of a dictatorship is immediately perceived as wrong, every country has a unique history and in Russia dictators have ruled for centuries and centuries.

First it was the Tsars, then a series of revolutions which ultimately resulted in Communist dictatorships instead, then the hope that Russia might embrace the Western system of values after the collapse of the USSR which then disappeared as more dictators came to power. Even during Stalin's rule, he was described as a "dictator of the people". It is a different mindset, whereby it is seen as important to have a strong, unwavering dictator who can lead the country effectively without being troubled by democratic values.

While I'm not suggesting that everyone in Russia supports Putin/his dictatorship, we have to understand that many Russian people will have an entirely different worldview where democracy is not perceived in the same way, and Western interference will only invite anti-democratic propaganda. Russia will have to reach democracy itself (if it's going to), and perhaps it will as people grow angry with Putin's methods of control. In the meantime, we can but hope.

 

Thing is, most Russians agree with the anti-gay laws, and would likely have no issue with laws banning homosexuality outright (or worse). All Putin's doing is giving the people what they want. Even if they do oust him, it won't be due to the gay thing, and things likely won't get any better for gays anyway.

Ultimately, people are sorta missing the point when they focus so much on Putin regarding this issue. The real problem is Russia as a whole.