Anti-Gay Propaganda Laws: Time for the European Court of Human Rights to Overe Her Fear of Commment on JSTOR

Contents:

• RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW
• EXGAY CALLG
• ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• 10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED
• “LET THEM FLEE TO SWEN: THERE, EVERYONE LOOKS AT THEM MORE POLELY”: GAY PROPAGANDA AND LGBT RIGHTS THE BALTIC STAT
• 18 ANTI-GAY GROUPS AND THEIR PROPAGANDA

RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW

And while Rsian ernment officials and parliament members claim that the goal of the “gay propaganda” law is to protect children om potentially harmful subject matter, the law fact directly harms children by nyg them accs to sential rmatn and creasg stigma agast LGBT youth and their fai. While some LGBT youth told that teachers had supported and protected them, many others said their teachers characterize LGBT people as a symptom of perversn imported om Wtern Europe or North Ameri, mirrorg the polil homophobia that motivated the passage of the “gay propaganda” law the first place. In le wh the June 2013 EU guil on promotg and protectg the enjoyment of all human rights by lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) persons, support iativ to provi assistance and redrs for victims of such vlence, civil society and ernmental monorg of s volvg vlence, and trag of law enforcement personnel.

The harng of negative social attus cis wh the creasg spread of hateful, anti-LGBT rhetoric, cludg by public officials the media, and the promulgatn of regnal and natnal anti-LGBT “gay propaganda” laws that prohib the “promotn” of “nontradnal sexual relatns to mors, ”[12] unrstood to mean the pictn of LGBT people anythg other than a negative light. While Rsian ernment officials and parliament members claim that the goal of the “gay propaganda” law is to protect children om potentially harmful subject matter, the law directly harms children by nyg them accs to sential rmatn and fosterg stigma agast LGBT children and their fai.

EXGAY CALLG

” He add: “Furthermore, laws such as Rsia’s propaganda law n have ser negative impact on the health and well-beg of homosexual youth and adults that the law creas and enshr stigma and prejudice, leadg to discrimatn and vlence, and, th, creasg risk for mental distrs and suici iatn. Rearch other untri has found that lack of support ntribut to negative mental health out; one study, lbian, gay and bisexual stunts environments wh fewer supports like gay/straight allianc, clive anti-bullyg polici and clive non-discrimatn polici were 20 percent more likely to attempt suici than those more supportive environments. Siarly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe observed 2013 that “gay propaganda” laws “are at variance wh eedom of exprsn and the prohibn of discrimatn on acunt of sexual orientatn and genr inty [and] risk legimisg the prejudice and hostily which is prent society and fuellg a climate of hatred agast LGBT people.

It is th not clear om the se law applyg the provisns, whether the terms “prohibn of homosexual propaganda” have to be terpreted rtrictively, or whether they ver any rmatn or opn favour of homosexualy, any attempt to change the homophobic attu on the part of the populatn towards gays and lbians, any attempt to unterbalance the sometim eply rooted prejudic, by dissematg unbiased and factual rmatn on sexual orientatn. Rsia, the European Court on Human Rights asssed whether a ban on pri march and other public monstratns by LGBT activists was jtifiable on the basis that protected children om harm, ncludg, “There is no scientific evince or soclogil data at the Court’s disposal suggtg that the mere mentn of homosexualy, or open public bate about sexual mori’ social stat, would adversely affect children....

ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER

”[275] A curriculum that ignor the needs of LGBT stunts “normaliz, stereotyp, and promot imag that are discrimatory bee they are based on heteronormativy; by nyg the existence of the lbian, gay, transsexual, transgenr and bisexual populatn, they expose the groups to risky and discrimatory practic. This re obligatn clus the obligatn to repeal laws—such as Rsia’s “gay propaganda” laws—that “obstct or unrme accs by dividuals or a particular group” to sexual and reproductive health rmatn, [289] and to ensure that everybody has “accs to prehensive tn and rmatn on sexual and reproductive health that are non-discrimatory, non-biased, evince-based, and that take to acunt the evolvg paci of children and adolcents. "When we showed gay people, " he says, "when we elevated the voic of gay people as part of the nversatn — and I say this as someone who is gay — we wanted to show the gay people as part of a fay, the gay people as part of a workplace, the gay people this se as part of a classroom.

In the Uned Stat this greater visibily brought some backlash, particularly om the ernment and the police: the ernment often fired gay civil servants, the ary attempted to purge s ranks of gay soldiers (a policy enacted durg World War II), and police vice squads equently raid gay bars and arrted their patrons.

In the Uned Stat the first major male anizatn, found 1950–51 by Harry Hay Los Angel, was the Mattache Society (s name reputedly rived om a medieval French society of masked players, the Société Mattache, to reprent the public “maskg” of homosexualy), while the Dghters of Bilis (named after the Sapphic love poems of Pierre Louÿs, Chansons Bilis), found 1955 by Phyllis Lyon and Del Mart San Francis, was a leadg group for women. Other issu of primary importance for the gay rights movement sce the 1970s clud batg the HIV/AIDS epimic and promotg disease preventn and fundg for rearch; lobbyg ernment for nondiscrimatory polici employment, hog, and other aspects of civil society; endg the ban on ary service for gay and lbian dividuals; expandg hate crim legislatn to clu protectns for gays, cludg transgenr dividuals; and securg marriage rights for same-sex upl (see same-sex marriage). Ever sce born-aga sger and orange juice pchwoman Ana Bryant helped kick off the ntemporary anti-gay movement some 40 years ago, hard-le elements of the relig right have been searchg for ways to monize gay people — or, at a mimum, to fd arguments that will prevent their normalizatn society.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

But addn to hawkg that myth, the legns of anti-gay activists who followed have add a panoply of others, rangg om the extremely doubtful claim that sexual orientatn is a choice, to unalloyed li like the claims that gay men molt children far more than heterosexuals or that hate crime laws will lead to the legalizatn of btialy and necrophilia. Depictg gay men as a threat to children may be the sgle most potent weapon for stokg public fears about homosexualy — and for wng electns and referenda, as Ana Bryant found out durg her succsful 1977 mpaign to overturn a Da County, Fla., ordance barrg discrimatn agast gay people. The Amerin Amy of Child & Adolcent Psychiatry affirmed 2013 that “[c]urrent rearch shows that children wh gay and lbian parents do not differ om children wh heterosexual parents their emotnal velopment or their relatnships wh peers and adults” and they are “not more likely than children of heterosexual parents to velop emotnal or behavral problems.

The Amerin Amy of Pediatrics (AAP) a 2002 policy statement clared: "A growg body of scientific lerature monstrat that children who grow up wh one or two gay and/or lbian parents fare as well emotnal, gnive, social, and sexual functng as do children whose parents are heterosexual. The Amerin Psychiatric Associatn noted a 2000 fact sheet available on the Associatn of Gay and Lbian Psychiatrists, that alg wh gay, lbian and bisexual issu, that sexual abe do not appear to be any more prevalent among children who grow up and intify as gay, lbian or bisexual than children who grow up and intify as heterosexual. Siarly, the Natnal Organizatn on Male Sexual Victimizatn not on s webse that "experts the human sexualy field do not believe that premature sexual experienc play a signifint role late adolcent or adult sexual orientatn" and add that 's unlikely that anyone n make another person gay or heterosexual.

Anti-gay activists, who have long opposed addg LGBT people to those protected by hate crime legislatn, have repeatedly claimed that such laws would lead to the jailg of relig figur who preach agast homosexualy — part of a bid to ga the backg of the broar relig muny for their posn. Anti-gay groups have been adamantly opposed to allowg gay men and lbians to serve openly the armed forc, not only bee of their purported fear that bat reads will be unrmed, but bee the ary has long been nsired the purt merocracy Ameri (the armed forc were succsfully racially tegrated long before Amerin civil society, for example).

10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED

Though is te that LGBT people tend to suffer higher rat of anxiety, prsn, and prsn-related illns and behavrs like alhol and dg abe than the general populatn, that is due to the historil social stigmatizatn of homosexualy and vlence directed at LGBT people, not bee of homosexualy self.

A report prented by the Council on Scientific Affairs to the AMA Hoe of Delegat Interim Meetg wh regard to reparative (“ex-gay”) therapy noted that most of the emotnal disturbance gay men and lbians experience around their sexual inty is not based on physlogil , but rather on “a sense of alienatn an unacceptg environment.

“LET THEM FLEE TO SWEN: THERE, EVERYONE LOOKS AT THEM MORE POLELY”: GAY PROPAGANDA AND LGBT RIGHTS THE BALTIC STAT

Qazi Rahman, study -thor and a leadg scientist on human sexual orientatn, said: "This study puts ld water on any ncerns that we are lookg for a sgle 'gay gene' or a sgle environmental variable which uld be ed to 'select out' homosexualy — the factors which fluence sexual orientatn are plex.

The Amerin Amy of Pediatrics stated 1993 (updated 2004) that “homosexualy has existed most societi for as long as rerd scriptns of sexual beliefs and practic have been available” and that even at that time, “most scholars the field state that one’s sexual orientatn is not a choice … dividuals do not choose to be homosexual or heterosexual.

A more recent example of this type of legislated homophobia the form of the Pedophilia Act passed by the Országgyűlés (Natnal Assembly) of Hungary June 2021, which bans “exposg mors to any ntent that picts sexualy for s own sake or portrays and promot homosexualy or viance om genr inty based on birth sex” media, schools, and clash of “civilizatnal valu” ntu to reprent a pture pot between what Wtern European natns promote as human rights and what Central and Eastern European natns cry as lonialism and double standards. However, as the Lhuanian LGBT rights NGO Lietuvos gėjų lyga (Lhuanian Gay League, or LGL)Footnote 2 noted their prs release on the amendments, the chang keep the law tact and do nothg to addrs provisns that n be ed to target LGBT-related ntent, even if is for rmatnal or tnal purpos (Antanaytė, 2021) chapter outl how the ncept of “gay propaganda” n be unrstood terms of the often-fierce bat over same-sex partnership legislatn, same-sex fai, hate crim laws, and LGBT visibily Estonia, Latvia, and Lhuania.

18 ANTI-GAY GROUPS AND THEIR PROPAGANDA

Further, looks to lol LGBT and femist rights anizatns the three untri, cludg Eti LGBT Ühg (Estonian LGBT Associatn), Femisteerium (Estonia), LGBT un viņu drgu apvienība ‘Mozaīka’ (Associatn of LGBT and their Friends “Mozaīka, ” Latvia), Pri Hoe (Latvia), and Lietuvos gėjų lyga (LGL, Lhuania), and the news stori, blog posts, and prs releas they create that often react and try to unter nservative and homophobic/transphobic narrativ prent polics and society. Typilly, accatns of “gay propaganda” are leveled agast activists phg for legal regnn of same-sex partnerships and fai, the stagg of pri march major ci across Central and Eastern Europe, media stori and programs that pict ntral or posive reprentatns of LGBT dividuals, and sex tn that go beyond abstence and heterosexualy. While is out of spe of this rearch to provi a full acuntg for the fundg that allows groups to fight agast “gay propaganda” and “genr iology” Estonia, Latvia, and Lhuania, do pot to specific stanc where “followg the money” would help to better expla the motiv of specific groups and Rights ComparisonThere is nsirable dispary LGBT rights Estonia, Latvia, and Lhuania, particularly parison to many untri Wtern Europe.

While a slim relative majory all three untri believe that lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals should have the same rights as heterosexual cizens—53% Estonia and Lhuania and 49% Latvia—when qutns pertaed to the moraly of same-sex relatnships, marriage rights, adoptn, and transgenr rights, signifint majori Latvia and Lhuania reacted negatively, while a slim pluraly Estonia (49–44%) believe that there is nothg wrong wh a same-sex relatnship (European Commissn, 2019a). Regardg perceptns of whether there is systematic discrimatn the three untri, cludg agast tersex and transgenr people, signifint majori all three believe that wispread discrimatn do not exist, except Lhuania, where 50% believe that there is wispread discrimatn agast lbian, gay, and bisexual people (European Commissn, 2019a).