“Wele to Chechnya” Reveals the Killg of Gay People

Contents:

• WHY RSIA IS SO ANTI-GAY
• WHY RSIA TURNED AGAST THE GAYS
• RSIA'S GAY MUNY FEAR AS HOMOPHOBIC ATTACKS CREASE
• 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
• RSIA: THE UNTRY THAT HAT GAY PEOPLE
• 1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS
• LGBT HATE CRIM DOUBLE RSIA AFTER BAN ON 'GAY PROPAGANDA'
• MAJORY OF RSIANS BELIEVE GAYS NSPIRG TO STROY UNTRY'S VALU, POLL FDS
• CHECHNYA IS TRYG TO EXTERMATE GAY PEOPLE. OUR SILENCE ONLY EMBOLNS VLADIMIR PUT AND RAMZAN KADYROV.

WHY RSIA IS SO ANTI-GAY

Nearly three-quarters of Rsians believe that homosexually is morally unacceptable, more than disapprove of other hot-button issu such as extramaral affairs, gamblg and numbers e om newly released data om the Pew Rearch Center, which surveyed Rsians on their moral attus sprg 2013.

Jt eight months before the gam, Rsia's ernmental body, the Duma, passed a law makg illegal to distribute homosexual "propaganda" to mors, which clus stagg gay pri events and advotg for gay law also bans foreign same-sex upl om adoptg Rsian the openg day of the Olympics (Feb.

[5 Myths About Gay People Debunked]History of anti-gay attusUnrstandg Rsia's wispread gay sentiment requir a look back, said Tatiana Mikhailova, a senr stctor of Rsian Studi at the Universy of Colorado, Boulr.

WHY RSIA TURNED AGAST THE GAYS

In 1835, Czar Nicholas I extend the ban on male same-sex relatnships to revolutnari threw out the Czarist legal and drew up their own, which did not crimalize homosexualy. Joseph Stal, who nsolidated power over the 1920s, and his secret police appotee, Genrikh Yagoda, drafted a new law penalizg homosexuals, whom they portrayed as spi and sundrels.

"Where gays are allowed, pedophilia will soon flourish, " says Rsian Orthodox prit Sergei Rybko a new BBC documentary, "Hunted, " released this month, that explor vlence toward Rsian Rsian Orthodox Church is a major driver of anti-gay public opn, Mikhailova said, but there is a paradox at most untri, religsy is lked to anti-gay attus.

Few Rsians say relign is central to their liv; the untry sr on par wh many Wtern European untri terms of lack of religsy, but only 9 percent of Rsians say homosexualy is acceptable the new survey. Another 9 percent say homosexualy is not a moral issue, and 72 percent say beg gay is parison, 69 percent of Rsians say extramaral affairs are unacceptable, 62 percent disapprove of gamblg, and 44 percent say abortn is immoral. [6 Thgs Rsians Thk Are More Acceptable Than Beg Gay]While the average Rsian may not attend church equently or pray fervently, the Orthodox Church still holds sway over public opn, Mikhailova said.

RSIA'S GAY MUNY FEAR AS HOMOPHOBIC ATTACKS CREASE

4) that harassment and vlence agast gays, lbians and bisexual and transgenr people Rsia is wispread and may be on the anonymo survey by The Rsian LGBT Network St.

3, a urt eastern Rsia sentenced three men to between ne and 12 years prison each for the beatg and stabbg ath of a man they believed to be gay, one of several recently reported crim allegedly motivated by anti-gay sentiment. Rsian society remaed wily homophobic, and there were many who saw gays and lbians as an evable and evil Wtern import, but there were other thgs to worry about — reverg om the llapse of a polil-enomic system, clawg out of poverty, alg wh the explosn of vlence that engulfed a untry sudnly flowg wh sh and then me Vladimir spent the first two terms of his princy, om 2000 to 2008, lg wh no iology. " Th the law passed by the Duma jt hours after the anti-gay law was passed, makg "sultg relig believers" an offense punishable by up to three years send easit thg has been to monize the "Other, " creatg an ternal enemy for everyone to fear.

'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY

And fally, allows Rsia to do what do bt the days: prent self as Not The is no accint that Rsia is strippg away gay rights as (popular and legal) support for gay marriage the U. As Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Rsian Orthodox Church, recently put : gay marriage is a "dangero apolyptic system" that leads a natn "on a path of self-stctn. "I thk the most ridiculo qutns e up durg the y of an empire, " said Anton Krasovsky, a proment Rsian journalist recently fired for beg gay, when asked why the "gay qutn" had sudnly emerged Rsia.

Holdg gay pri events, speakg fense of gay rights, or equatg gay and heterosexual relatnships n now rult f of up to $31, the vote, gay rights activists who attempted to hold a "kiss-" outsi the Duma were pelted wh eggs by Orthodox Christian and pro-Kreml activists.

"The argument that a young person n be "propagandized" to turng gay may seem outdated (not to mentn an overtimatn of the power of propaganda), but 's actually not out of place morn Rsia.

RSIA: THE UNTRY THAT HAT GAY PEOPLE

When a 23-year-old man Volgograd revealed he was gay to some drkg panns last month, they beat him, shoved beer bottl his an, and cshed his head wh a the Soviet Unn, homosexualy was a crime punishable by prison and hard labor, and Stalist anti-gay polici persisted throughout the 60s and 70s.

"When the Stal anti-homosexual law was repealed 1993, there was no amnty for those still stg prison for sodomy, " wrote history profsor Dan Healey, an expert on homosexualy Rsia, on the 90s, Rsians have faced credible enomic turmoil, a loss of public servic many areas, and wispread rptn -- all factors that be to rerce negative stereotyp. "To the gree that a given society that is secure about s polil, social, enomic, and ung cultural inty, will mask that secury wh a swaggerg show of genred strength, " said Yvonne Howell, a Rsian profsor at the Universy of 16 percent of Rsians today say homosexualy should be accepted by society, pared wh 42 percent nearby (and also formerly munist) Poland.

1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS

"Wood went on to say an email: While there is plenty of homophobia Rsia, I thk the Soviet state ntued the Tsarist Orthodox state's directn of beg a moral and tutelary state -- the ntuy of state fluence over moral choic never died away.

LGBT HATE CRIM DOUBLE RSIA AFTER BAN ON 'GAY PROPAGANDA'

In their latt report on Rsia, tled License to Harm, HRW fds the Rsian thori have not only “failed their obligatn to prevent and prosecute homophobic vlence, ” but have also “effectively legalized discrimatn agast LGBT people and st them as send class cizens. The report go on to document var horrific stanc of vlence and abe agast Rsia’s LGBT muny, cludg by radil natnalist groups lurg gay men on the pretext of a fake date. Laws explicly banng homosexualy were lifted 1993, after the Soviet llapse – though there was no amnty for those jailed for sodomy – but the attu appears to have stuck.

Image source, RtersImage ptn, One report c a tenfold crease homophobic attacks sce Rsia's 2013 gay propaganda lawThis year's QueerFt St Petersburg was the most ntroversial the ftival's the openg show, a crowd turned up to timidate and shout sults, sprayg loured antiseptic om syrg, a kd of cleansg. ""The atmosphere now is sry, we feel that 's dangero, " one of the anisers, Pola Andrianova, told the BBC, scribg the harassment as the worst sce the LGBT (Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr) ftival began six years ago. Image ptn, Anti-gay protters sprayed loured antiseptic om syrg at QueerFtHer experience is one of those rerd a new report by the US-based group Human Rights Watch, which documents a rise homophobic rhetoric, actns and vlence Rsia.

MAJORY OF RSIANS BELIEVE GAYS NSPIRG TO STROY UNTRY'S VALU, POLL FDS

That they are dangero for children, and rmatn about them is harmful, " Ms Andrianova ptn, Ira Shuova and Alyona Fursova talk about their recent weddg"It rerc the view of gay people as send-class cizens and giv a green light to more vlence and more aggrsn, " she 's why there is extra secury now at Comg Out, the LGBT support group where Pola works. Another group rerd over 300 homophobic attacks this year, a more than tenfold ptn, A secury notice warns of secury meras the office at the Comg Out support group"We were jt havg ffee, harmg no-one, when men masks broke-, " Ivan Surok says of one cint, last November.

Image ptn, This giant iPhone was taken off the streets after Apple boss Tim Cook revealed he was gayHomophobic attacks, he claims, are Valy Milonov is no polil extremist - he reprents the Uned Rsia party of Print Vladimir Put.

A few trailg bl are all that rema at the spot the statue once occupied, the yard of an IT Milonov claims he got rid of his own iPhone 6 followg Tim Cook's announcement, bee was "smellg wh gay stuff", although he still has a Mac laptop on his ptn, Valy Milonov troduced anti-gay measur St Petersburg before natnal laws were passedHuman Rights Watch lls for an end to such hate-speech and for a new msage of tolerance om Rsia's thori. As an unspectg dience looked on, the men hoisted a shirtls lleague above their heads, placed a ncrete block on his stomach that suggted gay people should be killed, and proceed to smash the symbolic object wh what appeared to be a sledgehammer. The performance Yaroslavl is jt the latt example of risg homophobia and tolerance toward mory groups Rsia, a trend that appears to be worseng part bee of seemg official difference to such displays.

CHECHNYA IS TRYG TO EXTERMATE GAY PEOPLE. OUR SILENCE ONLY EMBOLNS VLADIMIR PUT AND RAMZAN KADYROV.

Sce then, LGBT-rights mpaigners and hate-crime rearchers have reported a notable uptick vlence and harassment agast gays and lbians, often om nservative activists or those pog Orthodox Christian beliefs.

In the North Cs, the Rsian LGBT Network -- Rsia's largt gay and lbian support group -- said on Augt 25 that a Daghtani native had been abducted earlier this year Mosw and forcibly brought to Chechnya, where thori prsed him for rmatn on gay people the regn. For ee real time breakg news alerts sent straight to your box sign up to our breakg news emailsSign up to our ee breakg news emailsAll of Anton Krasovsky’s iends and lleagu knew he was gay. ”The Rsian parliament is preparg to pass a bill that would outlaw “homosexual propaganda”, which has prompted fears of a rise homophobic vlence, a society that already has ltle tolerance of gay week, a 23-year-old man was found ad Volgograd, apparently attacked by two men he had told he was gay.

There are almost no openly gay figur the worlds of entertament, sport and popular sgers and entertaers make ltle effort to hi their sexualy om iends and lleagu but “g out” to the broar Rsian populatn would be unthkable. Surveys show that 80 per cent of Rsians believe homosexuals should hi their te sexual orientatn, and many Rsian gays are ed to livg a double life, sometim for acrdg to some activists, the ntroversial “homosexual propaganda” law – which has already been passed 10 Rsian regns and looks likely to be implemented natnwi by Rsia’s parliament this sprg – may not have the effect tend by s nservative backers. ”Acrdg to Mr Kochetkov, there is a chance the law uld prompt a whole wave of well-known Rsians to e out and clare their Krasovsky claims there is very ltle “real homophobia” Rsia, and suggts his dismissal was as much to do wh his words about Vladimir Put as was about g out.