LGBT News Over 80% of Russians Oppose Same Sex Marriage and Gay Parades

Hmm, I wonder why...

 

Or if they actually do and they're just so terrified to come out in that environment that they force themselves into straight relationships and are completely miserable.

 

What do they mean by Homosexals should be "liquidated" That sounds really creepy :/

 

Russia is a horrible place.Period.

 

It means we should be put to death by the state - executed.

 

The Levada Center that performed the survey is Russian, so I'm going to have to say the results are almost certainly going to be biased and misrepresented.
Sorry in advance to any Russians...

 

Better Dead Than Red.

 

Does anyone understand WHY Russians are so homophobic? Is it tied into their culture somehow or something?

 

No clue. Might have something to do with the Russian Orthodox Church, but I thought most of them were pretty anti-religion.

 

I did too. That's what's so confusing. If there's some other cultural aspect of Russia that makes homosexuality more taboo than in the rest of the world, I'm completely oblivious to it.

 

Its visibility is increasing in Russia and ex-Soviet countries (when I was there I was rather surprised at it being semi-visible, but at the same time the gay community seemed ghettoed, bleak and sinister), and so rather than being something people literally didn't even know existed, it's now something coming into the limelight. And since civil rights are being equalised in the EU and North America, homosexuality is seen as a 'foreign influence' to Russians - not a positive one when many of them are fiercely independent!
I'm sure similar things have happened elsewhere. When universal suffrage started gathering momentum the environment became more hostile, the same for gay people in the UK/USA in the 1960s and 70s (before it was often, but not always, a matter of complete invisibility).

And could we not turn this thread into a Russia-hating orgy, especially when it involves using phrases originating from Nazi Germany? I agree that it's very easy to argue that liberalisation is the 'right' option but it's incredibly arrogant to call somewhere a 'horrible place' simply because it doesn't follow our norms.

 

I agree, just because Russia's society differs from ours in terms of LGBT acceptance doesn't mean we should just mercilessly attack them. Yes, it is very horrible for LGBT people living there, but it's a different culture and a different society and who knows why they are moving seemingly in the opposite direction of the rest of the civilized?

 

Man, it's just a vicious cycle. They have such harsh views because they don't know of anybody in the predicament.

But because of those views, their gay friends and family are too afraid to come out to them.

I guess the cycle ends by people slowing beginning to come out. Just as what has happened in America.

 

Than what explains those Russian gay porn sites I've seen?

 

While I think it's important not to generalize all Russian's (because stereotyping is bad); I don't see any problem what-so-ever in pointing out problems with their culture. It is perfectly valid to say it is a horrible place to live if you are a LGBT person. If this poll is to be believed, you're more likely to face discrimination and abuse, and at least 5% of the population believes you should be executed while another 16% basically wants you locked in a prison. Another 22% believes you should be locked in a mental institution for "compulsory treatment".

Given a choice between living in Russia, the United States, Canada, or a Western European country - well, any of the above is more acceptable than Russia.

Is Russia the worst place in the world for a LGBT person? No. Unfortunately, there are much worse places. Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Uganda all come immediately to mind.

According to the poll 89% - an overwhelming majority - don't believe they have LGBT family members or relatives. At best this shows an extraordinary amount of ignorance by the majority of the population.

Russia does not deserve or need a free pass when it comes to their culture. They need to face both external and internal pressures that forces their culture to change. This is true for all cultures that hold bigotry, prejudice, and ignorance toward LGBT people.

No, not all values and perspectives are equal. Yes, some of them are based in ignorance and illogical stupidity and are therefore wrong. The Russian culture is an explanation for the reason the majority of their population holds such ridiculous views, not an excuse or a free pass to continue to avoid having them challenged.

As LGBT people exist in every culture, nation, race, gender, ethnicity, religious group, etc. to stand up for LGBT rights means they have to be stood up for everywhere - not just here at home. In an ideal world, there would not be a single nation - large or small - where an LGBT person does not feel safe to come out, live an honest life, enjoy equality under the law, and have legal protection against persecution and bigotry.

It certainly won't happen in our lifetimes, but every time a nation embraces us as equals under the law; then commits itself to fight for our rights, it also acts as leverage against other nations that do not share that same point of view. Yes, we have the right to use leverage over other nations to force them to change.

It should be seen as our collective duty to stand up for human rights everywhere, without exception, and without making excuses.

 

I'm finding this hard to believe as the article did not give give the link to this survey.
Furthermore, it looks like they omitted what the 28% of the responses would have said.
What are they hiding?

I also looked looked at the comments and although they are very few at the moment,
one scathing comment suggested all the 'links' homosexuality has.
Really, it's not surprising to see bigoted views on such an inflammatory article.

 

I think one of the causes of this opposition against gays and lesbians might be the rapidly aging population of Russia. In there, most women are childless or only have one son, and this tendencing has been going for a while. As time goes by, the average Russian becomes much older, and since younger people tend to be less conservative and more accepting of different mindsets, we can expect homophobia to worsen in Russia.

Not to mention they will have tons of problems in the future if the problem persists: elevation of the age of retirement, loss of productivity, decreased economic goes, etc. and people in general tend to be much more intolerant in bad economic times. Just take a look at the new pressures against immigration in Europe.

 

it's been pretty big in their culture forever, & Stalin came down really hard on it after he reversed Lenin's progressive social policies so it's remained that way since

?????

 

this smacks of iran saying there are no homosexuals in iran.