'Gay Gag Rule' Now Law in St. Petersburg

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/gay-gag-rule-now-law-st-petersburg-150030294--abc-news.html

By Kirit Radia | ABC News – 4 hrs ago

An anti-gay law has gone into effect in St Petersburg, prompting fresh concern from gay rights advocates that it will be used to promote hate crimes against homosexual and transgender individuals.

The new law penalizes what proponents say is the promotion of homosexual activity among children, but detractors say it is part of a wider effort to persecute homosexuals in Russia's second largest city.

The law, which took effect Sunday, in part prohibits "the propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia among minors." Gay rights activists say it would criminalize even reading, writing or speaking about gay, lesbian, or transgender people. Violations carry hefty fines up to $16,700.

"This law has little to do with protecting minors," said Polina Savchenko, director of the St. Petersburg LGBT organization Coming Out, in a statement today.

The law has prompted large protests in front of Russian embassies around the world in recent weeks. Homosexuality was outlawed during the Soviet Union and was only decriminalized by President Boris Yeltsin in 1993, though it remains highly taboo today.

Activists are quick to point out that Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the famed composer and St. Petersburg native, was gay and suggest that even mentioning that fact is now illegal.

"We are offended and outraged by this act by city authorities and will continue fighting for the rights of LGBT citizens until the barbaric law is repealed," Savchenko said.

She said she fears the law will only "encourage hate" towards the LGBT community.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/russian-orthodox-church-ban-homosexuality-propaganda-among-minors-163812510.html

Russian Orthodox Church: Ban homosexuality 'propaganda' among minors

The powerful Russian Orthodox Church wants the Duma to follow regional governments that have banned 'homosexual propaganda aimed at minors.' St. Petersburg enacted such a law last week.

By Fred Weir | Christian Science Monitor – 15 hrs ago

A controversial new law enacted in St. Petersburg and three other Russian regions, aimed at banning "homosexual propaganda aimed at minors," has members of Russia's besieged gay community worrying that all progress toward civil rights for sexual minorites in recent years might be thrown into reverse.

The law, signed last week by St. Petersburg Gov. Georgy Poltavchenko, would impose the equivalent of a $16,000 fine upon anyone "making public actions among minors for the propaganda of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality or transgenderism (LGBT)." Similar laws have recently been enacted in the Russian regions of Ryazan, Archangelsk, and Kostroma.

Today the powerful Russian Orthodox Church weighed in with a call for the Duma, the lower house of parliament, to pass a national version of that law.

"The determination displayed by representatives of sexual minorities and their desire to continue rallying outside children's establishments indicate the timeliness of this regional law, which should, without delay, be given federal status," said Hieromonk Dmitri Pershin, the Orthodox Church's representative on youth issues, according to the official news agency RIA-Novosti.

Leaders of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community say the new laws are not grounded in sound legal concepts, are vaguely written, and seem mainly designed to validate widespread public hostility toward gay people.

"No legal experts seem able to explain how this law would be applied in practice," says Polina Savchenko, general manager of Coming Out, a St. Petersburg LGBT group. "There is a fear that it will be used as an instrument to prevent any kind of activity the state doesn't approve of. The language of the law is so vague that it could apply to any kind of public discourse, any discussion of gay issues, in almost any venue. I mean, how can you be sure that minors won't access the Internet, or read mass media discussions?"

"We already live in a very homophobic environment, and this law just pushes us back in time. In the minds of people, it makes discrimination against gay people appear to be legal again," she adds.

Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, but social hostility remains widespread, with gay pride parades routinely banned in Moscow and other cities, and meeting places frequented by LGBT people subject to frequent police raids.

A 2010 poll by the independent Levada Center in Moscow found that 74 percent of Russians regard homosexuality as a result of bad moral choices, or think of it as a "disease." Only 15 percent thought it is just another sexual orientation that "has the same right to existence" as heterosexual lifestyles, 5 percent fewer than in a similar survey five years earlier.

"The church is not the initiator of [these laws], but many believers have been waiting for such legislation to appear," says Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's department of cooperation with society. "The propaganda of [homosexual lifestyles] should not take place where minors can feel its influence; the same is true about heterosexual lechery…. Public manifestations of this way of life are unacceptable for the majority of society. It is our duty to secure our children against it. That have no right to promote their way of life."

Mr. Chaplin frequently generates controversy by advocating for the Russian Orthodox Church's conservative positions, particularly on women's issues. Last year he called for a national dress code that would put pressure on women to shun miniskirts and excess makeup.

Nina Ostanina, a Communist Party deputy who sits on the Duma's committee on family and children's affairs, says there's a possibility that the regional laws might be declared unconstitutional by courts and therefore, she says, the Duma should pass a national law or hand the protection of children entirely over to regional legislatures.

"Russia has already stopped being a unified state from the point of view of legal differences," Ms. Ostanina says. "It's up to the regions to solve this; for me, it's not a violation of the Constitution. People who are a minority in the society should not advocate the fact that they are different from other members of the society."

Ms. Savchenko says that the proposed national law would chill any hope of carrying out a dialogue that might, over time, ease society's homophobic attitudes and promote broader acceptance of LGBT people.

"How can you have a conversation, if one side is constantly in fear of legal retribution?" she says.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

One could wonder why you didn;t just move to Russia or Belarus. Sounds like paradise, right?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

One could wonder why you didn;t just move to Russia or Belarus. Sounds like paradise, right?

Too many brainwashed commies over there for my liking. But I do like the fact they don't sugar coat the facts with made up media words just to appease a few freaks. They call it like it is...that and they have the sexiest women on this planet imo.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

[mawilson 2,133]

Too many brainwashed commies over there for my liking. But I do like the fact they don't sugar coat the facts with made up media words just to appease a few freaks. They call it like it is...that and they have the sexiest women on this planet imo.

You'll probably like Australia. It's basically like America, only with better roads, and about 30 years behind on socially liberal issues.

[Danno 1,228]

You'll probably like Australia. It's basically like America, only with better roads, and about 30 years behind on socially liberal issues.

But they got that whole gun ban thing..... guess there is just no paradise anywhere.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Danno

[james&olya 1,121]

But they got that whole gun ban thing..... guess there is just no paradise anywhere.

Try Somalia! Please!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Try Somalia! Please!

The libertarian paradise. No government. And what a paradise they have over there.

[X Factor 1,112]

You'll probably like Australia. It's basically like America, only with better roads, and about 30 years behind on socially liberal issues.

Plus Australia has a cool accent

[spookyturtle 9,466]

You'll probably like Australia. It's basically like America, only with better roads, and about 30 years behind on socially liberal issues.

:rofl: In every other first world country.................

[X Factor 1,112]

Try Somalia! Please!

[james&olya 1,121]

Now they are prancing in the street and targeting children with their lifestyle.

Prancing? Really?!!

[X Factor 1,112]

[Kathryn41 3,205]

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There are many ways to serve ones country, down grading the military is not service.