Russia's Still Refusing to Listen

Glimpy holds a die-in in support, Bordeaux, France
© Freedom Requires Wings 2013

The Vodka Boycott, the Sotchi boycott, and now To Russia With Love; the latest in the list of global movements to denounce homophobia in Vladimir Putin's Russian Federation.

LGBT groups around the world in over 50 cities organised mostly kiss-ins on Sunday 8th September. Other groups, like Glimpy in Bordeaux, France, planned die-ins to focus more on the beatings and murders of young LGBT people in Russia by right-wing extremist groups.

President Obama met with Russian LGBT organizations during the G20 meetings and politicians and celebrities across the globe have denounced the Kremlin's growing level of homophobia, but seemingly to no avail.

In June 2013, the Kremlin introduced a law to end "homosexual propaganda" and "fight paedophilia" by forbidding "the promotion of non-traditional relations amongst minors". It's this law that sparked the global movement named "To Russia With Love". But this law is only one part of a succession of homophobic laws which have caused a worrying rise in homophobia in the country.

According to LGBT activists, this legislation has encouraged right-wing extremists, such as the neo-Nazis or the Russian ultranationalists, to use social media to ambush gay people. They film these attacks and post them on their social media outlets for the whole world to see.

One video shows a young Russian gay man being forced to
drink urine

What's going on in Russia is no secret. Putin doesn't denounce the homophobes and only passes laws to help them. The police doesn't arrest the right-wing extremists because they estimate they're "fighting paedophilia" and therefore turn a blind eye. But the world is watching as the 2014 Sotchi Winter Olympics approach. In one of the most gruesome cases, a 23 year-old man was beaten and raped with a beer bottle by a neo-Nazi group who used social media to organise the crime.

However, homophobia is not just present in Moscow or Saint Petersburg, it's spread all over the country. The majority of protests for LGBT rights and gay pride parades turn into beatings and bloodbaths, the police often joining in.

Putin has sworn that LGBT people would not face persecution during the Olympic games, but will these promises be held? Some, such as Nikolai Alexseyev, organizer of Moscow gay pride since 2006, say it's best to see if he'll stay true to his word and protest for gay rights at the Olympics. Others are skeptical and call for a boycott. With yet another homophobic bill being drafted at the Kremlin just two weeks ago threatening to remove children from same-sex couples, it seems that Russia just doesn't care what the world thinks of it's respect of Human Rights.

This latest bill is not only homophobic, but also irresponsible. Instead of helping tackle the horrendous number of orphans in Russia, Putin is only adding to his problems whilst removing more and more rights from LGBT Russians. According to the latest figures, Russia currently has over 600,000 orphans in streets and orphanages around the country. Clearly, no-one will gain anything out of this bill if it is passed into law. The number of orphans will grow, the country will only add to it's social problems, homophobia will continue to rise, and it seems Putin would rather pay to feed more orphans than let those children stay with their same-sex parents.