A lot has been said about the Russian anti-gay laws, but today VICE released a documentary about what it's like to be gay in Russia. VICE went to Russia to talk to young gay people and LGBT protesters about the new laws and about living in a far from tolerant society, but they also spoke with the Russian government to try and find out more about the reason behind the laws. The documentary shows what the laws are like, but also how it affects the lives of (young) gay people in Russia. It's 30 minutes and I can definitely recommend watching it, if you have the time. Young and gay in Putin's Russia | VICE Netherlands You can turn on subtitles by clicking the 'CC' button in the bottom right corner. Disclaimer: Spoiler 1) I know we've had tons of news items about this, but I feel like this documentary shows it in a way no wall of text can. 2) I was in doubt whether to post it here or in the News forum, but decided to go for Media as it's a documentary and not really a news item Anyway. I now more than ever respect the Russian people who are brave enough to risk their lives and protest against the laws.
Horrible. And of course our brave prime-minister is going to Sochi, even while Obama and many other leaders don't.
I watched the full video, it's awful what's going on in Russia, I already was aware of most of what is going on, but it was still very informative and sums up the whole picture pretty well in 30 minutes. I've always been fascinated by Russia and its history and its culture, but being gay (or just, being a decent person) makes it increasingly difficult to like Russia, or at least what it's become. Being gay in Russia has never been fun or easy, but the country has gone backwards: I think it's safe to say that conditions are worse for the LGBTQ community under the Putin-Orthodox Church regime in 2014 than they were in the Soviet Union when male homosexual activity was officially illegal due to Stalinist-era law. Stalin mostly used that law to target political enemies, but for most of its history the Soviet Union and Soviet society would mostly just ignore homosexuality and just pretend it didn't exist. I remember standing in the square outside the Bolshoi Theatre with my Russian professor, who grew up in the Moscow theatre scene, and she said "oh in the Soviet era this was where Moscow's gay men would go wearing tight pants to meet up with each other, everyone in Moscow knew about it, including the government, but nobody ever spoke of it, the police would just ignore it". I think the tremendous progress that's occurred in the West on gay rights, along with the rise of global mass media and the internet, combined with the rise of a theocratic fascist regime in Russia that thrives on anti-Western sentiment... has all come together to form a perfect storm that will terrorize LGBTQ Russians for years to come. Things are going to continue to get worse, not better. With the U.K. and European countries and U.S. states legalizing same-sex marriage and recognizing LGBTQ rights as a fundamental human rights issue, Russia can no longer just ignore homosexuality and pretend it doesn't exist, it has to confront it in some way. And it wants to confront it, you have a resurgent Orthodox Church back in power that considers homosexuality a sinful abomination and that church is in bed with the corrupt authoritarian regime whose support base is built upon fear and demonization of 'enemies', enemies which include the West and Western values. The Putin regime needs enemies in order to maintain support. And the LGBTQ community makes perfect enemies for the Putin regime to target. The majority of Russians already passively dislike the idea of homosexuality, mostly out of ignorance, but now with Orthodox priests preaching hate at every service and the state passing progressively more hateful laws, the majority of Russians can easily be convinced to actively hate gay people. It doesn't come with the historical stigma of targeting Jews or another ethnic group, they say they are just protecting their 'traditional values' from people who choose to live perverted lifestyles. And in the modern world, respect for LGBTQ rights has become a Western value- wonderful news for those of us living in the West, not so good news for people in non-Western countries under regimes that thrive off of anti-Western sentiment. The more rights the LGBTQ community wins in the West, the more ammunition the Russian government has to use to justify persecuting gays to protect Russia from the threat of Western, immoral, non-Russian values. I'm still just hopefully optimistic based on my own experiences while studying in Russia, young Russians (or perhaps, at least, young Muscovite university students) don't subscribe to the 'traditional' Russian mindset, most of them actually aspire to be seen as American or European, they wear American or European clothing, they hate Putin and favor a liberal democratic, Western style government, and they support LGBTQ rights and other liberal social causes. So my personal experiences have provided me with one tiny ray of light in what seems to be a very dark and depressing overall atmosphere in Russia. Hopefully the sort of youth I interacted with while studying at a Russian university in Moscow will one day be the people in charge of Russia, and will be able to undo the damage that Putin has done and make Russia a better place to live for everyone, especially the LGBTQ community.
You didn't really expect Mark Rutte to put something unprofitable such as ethics above business did you? :icon_sad: Read a nice statement about Putin and Sochi lately: 'Putin searched and searched, until he finally found the perfect place for the Winter Olympics. Sochi, the only place in the whole of Russia without snow.' (it's subtropical, with palm trees etc.) :icon_bigg
