If this article were published in a newspaper based in Russia, it could
be labeled 18+ — like an X-rated movie — and start with the following
disclaimer: “This article contains information not suitable for readers
younger than 18 years of age, according to Russian legislation.”anyways na naija we dey, so read on ...
The police detained a man after an attack on a gay rights activist in St. Petersburg.
Such warnings, put on any articles that discuss homosexuality or gay
rights, are the result of a law nominally aimed at “protecting” children
by banning “propaganda on nontraditional sexual relationships” but
widely understood as an effort to suppress homosexuality and Russia’s
fledgling gay rights movement.
The law, signed by President Vladimir V. Putin in June, has ignited
international condemnation and blindsided the Kremlin with the sort of
toxic political controversy that officials had desperately hoped to
avoid ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. The last Olympics
on Russian soil, in 1980, was marred by the boycott over the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan.
The furor includes a boycott of Russian vodka in gay bars throughout the
West and some calls for a boycott of the Sochi Games altogether. Beyond
putting organizers on the defensive, it has cast worldwide attention on
the cruel circumstances in which most gay people live in modern Russia.
Despite the breathtaking wealth and vibrant culture in the metropolises
of Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia remains a country where
discrimination and even violence against gay people are widely
tolerated.
“What is going on now in Russia contradicts its place in the world,”
said Anton Krasovsky, a television anchor who was immediately fired from
his job at the government-controlled KontrTV network in January after
he announced during a live broadcast that he is gay, saying he was fed
up with lying about his life and offended by the legislation.
Few gay people in Russia openly acknowledge their sexual orientation,
and those who do are often harassed. When some gay people protested the
propaganda law by kissing outside the State Duma, the lower house of
Parliament, police officers stood by and watched as the demonstrators
were doused with water and beaten by antigay and religious supporters of
the bill.
An overwhelming 88 percent of Russians support the gay propaganda ban,
according to a survey conducted in June by the All-Russian Public
Opinion Center. A survey conducted in April by the Levada Center
found that 35 percent of Russians believed that homosexuality was a
disease and 43 percent believed that it was a bad habit, a result of
poor parenting or a lack of discipline, or a symptom of abuse.
Last month, Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Russian Orthodox
Church, called same-sex marriage “a very dangerous sign of the
apocalypse.”
Mixed signals from senior Russian officials over how the propaganda law
might be enforced during the Games have undercut assertions by the
International Olympic Committee that gay athletes and spectators have
nothing to worry about, and have left organizing officials facing harsh
criticism and demanding clarifications from the Kremlin.
There have been comparisons to Nazi Germany as host of the 1936 Olympics
inside and outside Russia, including one by Jay Leno during an
interview with President Obama last week on “The Tonight Show.”
“Something that shocked me about Russia,” Mr. Leno told the president.
“Suddenly, homosexuality is against the law. I mean, this seems like
Germany: Let’s round up the Jews. Let’s round up the gays. Let’s round
up the blacks. I mean, it starts with that.”
Mr. Obama, on Mr. Leno’s show and again at a White House news conference
on Friday, noted that Russia was not alone in its treatment of gay
people, but he denounced the legislation and said he expected Mr. Putin
and the Russian government to prevent any discrimination in Sochi.
“I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or
transgendered persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to
them,” he told Mr. Leno. At the White House, Mr. Obama said he opposed a
boycott of the Games, but added, “Nobody is more offended than me by
some of the antigay and lesbian legislation that you’ve been seeing in
Russia.”
Russian officials say the criticism is unfair and inaccurate. In 1993,
Russia repealed the Soviet-era law that made gay sex a crime.
SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES
No comments:
Post a Comment