Russia, homophobia and the battle for 'traditional values'

[Celerity]

On International Day Against Homophobia, official Russia now demarcates itself very firmly on the other global side.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/russia-homophobia-and-the-battle-for-traditional-values



In December 2022, ten months into the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, the Duma extended the scope of Russia’s ‘gay propaganda’ law forbidding the public portrayal of ‘non-traditional sexual relations’. Previously focused on minors, the prohibited exposure would now apply to any age group. Why would Russia’s parliament do this in the middle of a war?

The amendment might appear to have been a trivial effort to distract the public from Russian military losses in Ukraine. But the restrictions, which render life precarious for LGBT+ individuals in Russia, have a much more ambitious purpose—to consolidate conservative support at home and position Russia as the defender of ‘traditional values’, in opposition to ‘the west’.

The ‘gay propaganda’ law has been at the heart of Russia’s domestic politics and foreign engagement—a symbol of its wholesale rejection of universal human rights. Its extension is but one further step in representing LGBT+ rights as a foreign threat and a Trojan-horse ‘enemy within’.

In 2020, lawmakers went so far as to include an explicit ban on same-sex marriage in Russia’s constitution. And the following year they designated several LGBT+ organisations, including the Russian LGBT Network, an umbrella group, as ‘foreign agents’—a term which in Russian has connotations of spying—accused of undermining the social order.

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[Mike Nelson]

1. They use...

... the same stuff Trump uses here. I have relatives in Europe and Sweden. The Russian government uses gays, abortion, Jews... same stuff. And, religion - from the former "Godless communists"! The people are told NATO invaded Russia and want to kill them all and take over the country... Biden/NATO/EU are to blame for all their problems. Many people believe this - that Russia was invaded, not Ukraine, and they will bring gays, Jews, etc...

[tanyev]

2. I remember when Republicans called Russia the Evil Empire.

And now their talking points sound exactly the same as Putin's talking points. Funny. But not ha-ha funny.

[roamer65]

3. The GQP.

Communism…BAD.

Fascism…GOOD!