Dear Russia, You Can't Arrest an Idea

Alexei Kiselyov (above) and Kirill Nepomnyashy were arrested in Saint Petersburg
for holding a sign that read "Gay is normal" in April (S)

As we know, Saint Petersburg banned gay rights activism back in March and quite frankly I'm getting a bit tired of talking about this on this blog. But unfortunately, it has to be done seeing as it isn't getting much press from the main news websites.

Another ban was put on  pride parades in June and the law treats gays the same way as paedophiles, arresting them for "perverting the minds of Saint Petersburg's young".

Similar bans have also been put in place in Moscow in a draconian trend that's spreading across Russia.

Today, it was reported that gay rights activists appealed against the discriminatory law by filing a complaint to city’s authorities for its ban on a gay pride parade last month. The Ravnopravie (meaning 'Equality') organisation has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, describing the authorities' actions as "disguised discrimination" against the LGBT community. They're also planning on appealing against the Saint Petersburg authorities for their ban on the gay pride rally which was scheduled for July 7th.

Many rallies have been held since the ban was introduced, but all of them ended in the same way, with the activists being arrested. And Russian prisons are no joke.

Moscow gay pride protest in May 2012 (S)

Moscow infamously placed a ban upon gay pride parades for 100 years, meaning the next one (if the ban doesn't get lifted) will be legally allowed to take place in 2112.

But no matter how many activists the police arrest, they aren't going away. In a recent survey of nearly 50 LGBT people in Russia, only one person had a positive coming out, free from any abuse. The LGBT community will never give up the fight to change those statistics for the better in Russia. You can arrest the activists, but you can't arrest the idea. The idea will continue, and it will grow no matter how much you stamp it out because the LGBT community is international, seeing as we are people just like heterosexuals. Imposing laws that treat others as paedophiles when it's clear from psychological studies that we have no link to paedophilia, is not right and the laws will not hold out. We'll see what the international court of human rights does. It has already said the pride parade bans are "unlawful".

We're not sure (the laws can be repealed), especially now that more and more cities in the country are taking this homophobic law.

- Coming Out Saint Petersburg

I asked a representative of Saint Petersburg's ВЫХОД (Coming Out) organization who worked with AllOut.org to try and stop the anti-gay law in the city from being passed earlier this year about the laws. They said they're "not sure" how confident they are that the laws can be repealed "especially now that more and more cities in the country are taking this homophobic law" (S).

The anti-gay sentiments are covering every aspect of life in Russia. Not only can you now no longer wave a rainbow-coloured flag, but religious activists have been calling on the government to ban Facebook since the social networking giant recognized same-sex marriages in early July.

According to the government-funded RT.com news network, a group of Russian Orthodox activists in the southern city of Saratov say Facebook is involved in "gay propaganda". I don't know if you've read about this story yet, but it's pretty whacko. 

Vladimir Roslyakovsky, head of the Orthodox group petition, said this week "We demand only one thing: Facebook should be blocked in the entire country because it openly popularizes homosexuality among minors" and that "the US goal is that Russians stop having children. [They want] the great nation to turn into likeness of Sodom and Gomorrah". This is exactly what I predicted would happen back in February. Thank you Hilary. To the eyes of the homophobic world, "Gay = USA" and so to be anti-American, you have to be anti-gay.

This (if passed) could cause some trouble and does seem feasible for the Russian government in my eyes. According to the very latest statistics out in the last few days, there are close to 6 million Russian Facebook users, placing the country 29th worldwide. That represents just over 4% of the country's population, and 10% of the Russian online population. But if they're cracking down on gays, who are a pretty similar proportion of the population, it might happen yet. A third of Facebook's Russian users are between the ages of 13 and 24, thus potentially adding "credibility" to the petition's case.

What will be come of Russia's national view on gay rights and the LGBT community? Only time will tell. But Vladimir Putin has held high positions in power since 1999. By the time he finishes this term as President he will have held more years in a powerful position in Russian politics since Stalin, and as someone who has worked in the KGB, he is certainly strongly anti-American.

Two of the world's scariest politicians