Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
This isn’t even a top ten free speech issue in a Russian context, though.
I remember reading a report on human rights in Morocco by some organization or other. Obviously, Islamic monarchies generally aren’t up to western snuff. But the report generally glossed over free speech and police corruption(both serious issues) to discuss how barbaric it was that homosexuality was illegal. The attitude towards Russia seems similar- we know it’s a thuggish dictatorship, why are gay rights the top issue over there? The suspicious number of dissidents falling out of windows seems far more serious. The hate speech laws have actual teeth, unlike in much of Europe, and Putin allows the chechens to punish islamophobes.
Because police corruption and suppression of anti-regime speech have motivations that are, if not particularly good, quite understandable to a rational person. A regime wants to keep political power and protect itself against threats almost by definition. A somewhat primitive authoritarian regime clings to power in the only way it knows how to, by throwing dissidents out of windows, duh, more news at 11. Not great all around, but very expected, and they probably won't stop even if the West tells them to – because keeping political power is their primary concern, more so than appeasing external forces.
In contrast, the laws against homosexuality seem like an exercise in pointless sadism for the sake of it. Despite what the original comment implied, countries like Russia don't just practice "don't ask, don't tell", outlawing parades and drag queen story hours at the local kindergarten. It's more like "don't ask, don't tell, don't host or participate in community events (police raids on LGBT parties at night clubs and even on private property have become the norm in Russia), don't run a private business that caters to LGBT customers (a Moscow businessman whose travel agency allegedly specialized in cruises for gay men was recently murder-suicided in jail), don't look like a fag walking down the street to a bored cop, etc". And, at least in the case of Eastern Europe, opposition to homosexuality is a top-down movement rather than a genuinely grassroots one – in the 1990s and 2000s regular Russians watched t.A.T.u girls kiss on live TV, performing alongside flagrantly gay male celebrities like Boris Moiseev and Sergey Zverev, and thought nothing of it. A Ukrainian crossdresser was one of the most popular music artists in the country for a long, long time.
Oppressing LGBT is all very based and trad if we ask the usual suspects (also Not Happening, but is a Good Thing), but serves close to no purpose in upholding these regimes, which is why it's so bizarre that they bother doing it. Coming down hard on those who swing at the king and miss is understandable, somewhat rational and also high-priority for those regimes for maintaining power, but proactively ostracizing and punishing a random group of citizens living their private lives is neither of those things, and demonstratively refusing to stop doing it in when asked nicely speaks of the barbaric nature of their elites, who seemingly delight in engaging in oppression for its own sake. There's a stark contrast with other authoritarian places like China – while the CCP isn't particularly LGBT-friendly either, but its approach is purely technocratic and doesn't demonstrate the same penchant for sadism, which is at least partly why China rarely gets singled out on this matter, at least compared to Russia.
For a regime which is an Islamic monarchy, criminalization of homosexuality- even if only enforced on the poor and unlucky- is quite understandable.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
I would like you to quote specific people who claim that gay rights is the top issue in Russia if you want that claim to be defended.
But to propose an answer that sounds plausible to me: the crowd who engages in active dissident politics is not large, and the wiser people are aware that blessed glorious West also has corruption, and perhaps will always have it. There is thus not much demand for being loud in a Putin-bothering way about it. Once Navalny got chased out and later offed, the anti-dictatorship side of dissident Russians has become much more disunited and self-eating.
As for islamic awareness, those of middle class means and above can largely avoid the worst of the Islamic component of Russia. Again, little demand. A lot of anti-Islamism is channeled through the gay rights issues, anyway.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link