A draft bill before Rsia’s parliament would signifintly affect the rights of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people.
Contents:
- RSIA NOT ONLY COUNTRY WH ANTI-GAY LAWS
- THE ORTHODOX CHURCH’S ROLE RSIA’S ANTI-GAY LAWS
- SOCHI 2014: GAY RIGHTS PROTTS TARGET RSIA'S GAM
RSIA NOT ONLY COUNTRY WH ANTI-GAY LAWS
Rsia's new anti-gay propaganda law has sparked global cricism ahead of the Olympics there. But other untri have even harsher laws. * russia's stance on gay rights *
Speakg before Put signed the bill to the law on Monday, Tanya Loksha, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch said: “The 2013 ‘gay propaganda’ law was an unabashed example of polil homophobia, and the new draft legislatn amplifi that broar and harsher ways. A new Rsian law that crimaliz "propaganda of non-tradnal sexual relatns among mors" has sparked growg lls om the global gay muny and s supporters for a boytt of Rsia's upg Wter heads of state like U. Print Barack Obama and Brish Prime Mister David Cameron have risted such lls, they and other high-profile figur and stutns have cricized what appears to be Mosw's creasg anti-gay Tuday, FIFA, the feratn erng world soccer petn, requted "clarifitn and more tails" om the Rsian ernment ncerng the law, passed July wh vol support om Rsian Print Vladimir to the host the World Cup 2018, Rsia had recently received a siar requt om the Internatnal Olympic Commtee ncerng the 2014 Sochi Wter Gam after Rsian sports mister Valy Mutko said that the new law would be enforced durg the homosexual relatns have been legal Rsia sce 1993, the new law has been assailed by crics as the latt and most ser attempt by the thori to crimalize and stigmatize Rsia's gay hostile toward gay rights movements and to homosexualy more broadly, the Rsian public overwhelmgly supports the new law, acrdg to public opn polls.
Dpe posive recent velopments for LGBT people the Uned Stat and other parts of the world, nsensual same-sex relatnships rema a crime at least 76 untri, acrdg to a Uned Natns report released are six natns that have recently adopted or have pecially harsh anti-gay laws:Cameroon"Homosexual nduct is crimalized 38 stat Ai, and many, laws are beg stricter, " said Boris Dtrich, advocy director of the LGBT rights program of Human Rights Watch. Homosexuals, pecially gay men, are regularly prosecuted Cameroon, and sometim tak as ltle as a text msage to another man exprsg love or havg an appearance perceived as overly effemate to be put behd bars. UgandaIn Uganda, home to some of the harsht anti-gay laws Ai—wh sentenc for homosexualy rangg om 14 years to life imprisonment—some polil forc have been seekg to pass an "Anti-Homosexualy Bill.
"While the bill clus such headle-grabbg provisns as the ath penalty for "aggravated homosexual nduct, " the spe of the proposed law is what has many gay activists most worried, said Human Rights Watch's clse the legislatn stat that anyone, cludg fay members of LGBT people, n be prosecuted for not notifyg thori wh 24 hours if they know someone who is gay, wh sentenc of up to three years prison. State Department stated, though, that no one Bundi had been arrted or prosecuted unr the anti-gay law that year, feedg the spicns of the print's crics that the move was a polil some of the more vic crackdowns on LGBT muni are takg place sub-Saharan Ai's poort untri is not a cince, said the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn's Jsi Stern, sce the attentn they generate n sometim provi a eful distractn om other prsg prri.
THE ORTHODOX CHURCH’S ROLE RSIA’S ANTI-GAY LAWS
* russia's stance on gay rights *
Internatnal human rights groups have llected evince that Iran has executed men on homosexualy charg, and documented s of arrts, imprisonment, and physil abe of LGBT persons based on their sexual orientatn or associatn wh other members of LGBT muny. Homosexualy was scribed by the secretary general of Iran's high uncil for human rights as "an illns and malady, " and by former Print Mahmoud Ahmadejad as somethg which "we don't have our untry. Qatari law nsirs homosexualy a crimal offense that's punishable by up to seven years jail (or a life term when one of the parti is unr 16 years of age) wh the civic penal , Islamic Sharia law is on the books Qatar, though appli only to Mlims.
SOCHI 2014: GAY RIGHTS PROTTS TARGET RSIA'S GAM
This report documents how Rsia’s “gay propaganda” law is havg a eply damagg effect on LGBT children. Human Rights Watch terviewed LGBT youth and mental health profsnals diverse lotns across Rsia, cludg urban and ral areas, to exame the everyday experienc of the children schools, hom, and public, and their abily to get reliable and accurate rmatn about themselv as well as unselg and other support servic. * russia's stance on gay rights *
Fry ntu, “Every time Rsia (and is nstantly) a gay teenager is forced to suici, a lbian “rrectively” raped, gay men and women beaten to ath by neo-Nazi thugs while the Rsian police stand idly by, the world is dimished and I for one, weep anew at seeg history repeat self. In June, jt before the vote on the "propaganda of nontradnal sexual relatns" bill, gay rights activists attempted to hold a "kissg rally" outsi the Duma, the Rsia legislative buildg, which is loted across the street om Red Square central Mosw.
Gay rights activists across the world prott agast the Rsian ernment, as Sochi awas the arrival of the Olympic torch. * russia's stance on gay rights *
” Along wh the recent natnal referendum that clud a nstutnal ban on same-sex marriage, this mpaign, creasgly nservative and exprsly anti-LGBT+ rhetoric, reprents state-sponsored “policized homophobia” that unrme and repackage the prcipl of mocracy and human rights, as well as how those ncepts are terpreted by policymakers, Rsia and beyond. The implementatn of the “gay propaganda” law has rulted an crease anti- LGBT+ vlence and rtrictns on LGBT+ projects and iativ—om a ban on Pri events to the abily of LGBT+ anizatns to register the untry. The bt path forward lls for ternatnal actors to adhere to human-rights prcipl, mata polil prsure on the Rsian ernment, and support lol actors who work to rce homophobic rhetoric the public doma and crease the reprentatn of LGBT+ people.
In Rsia, antipathy towards homosexualy and genr variance is not new—LGBT people there have long faced threats, bullyg, abe si their fai, and discrimatn—but the 2013 “gay propaganda” law has creased that social hostily. 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.
Some explaed that they felt forced to speak about sexual orientatn and genr inty only phemisms, or to say explicly at the outset of unselg ssns that they nnot and will not dissemate “gay propaganda” attempts to dispel advance any notn that they are vlatg the law. On June 10, 2013, Yelena Mizula, the thor of the law at the State Duma, the lower chamber of Rsia’s parliament, told reporters that the Deti-404 webse did not nstute “gay propaganda” unr the law. Instct relevant law enforcement agenci, such as the office of the prosecutor general, the Mistry of Interr, and the Invtigative Commtee, to gather data about homophobic and transphobic crim, and make such data publicly available.