Russian lawmakers target gay ‘propaganda’
(yes that is the original article title)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-lawmakers-target-gay-propaganda/2012/04/17/gIQADQAgOT_story.html
ST. PETERSBURG — The anti-Western rhetoric that dominated Russia’s recent elections has a new focus, with gays targeted as symbols of Western permissiveness in a wave of laws being adopted across the country.
Here in St. Petersburg, a city that prides itself as the most European in all Russia, the lawmaker behind a new local ban on gay “propaganda” has said he is defending traditional Russian values against an onslaught from the West. Gay activists — two of whom were the first to go on trial for violations of the law this week — counter that the rules will legitimize homophobic attitudes and aggression even as Europe and the United States move toward acceptance.
St. Petersburg’s parliament was the latest to enact such a law, which imposes fines of up to $17,000 for spreading “propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality or transgenderism among minors,” and the national parliament in recent weeks took up a proposal for a similar measure. In a country where a 2010 poll by the respected Levada Center found that 74 percent of Russians said that gays and lesbians were “morally dissolute or deficient,” advocates for gay rights worry that the laws could spread rapidly.
“The homophobic mood is growing in society, and minorities are getting more and more afraid,” said Igor Kochetkov, the head of Coming Out, a gay rights group in St. Petersburg. This week, he appeared in a cramped courtroom to defend himself against charges that he spread gay propaganda to minors when he unfurled a sign that said “No to crimes against gays and lesbians” on a crowded St. Petersburg street corner.
= new reply since forum marked as read
When a gay pride parade in Moscow was attacked by ruffians. Alot of people were beaten, including a member of the German parliament and British entertainer Richard Fairbass of 'Right Said Fred' fame.
But given the homophobia in Russia, it wasn't really surprising. The only surprising thing was that the guy from Right Said Fred is gay 
But seriously, it's bad over there. Real bad, as this OP shows.
