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On Monday, President Vladimir Putin denied that Russia violates the rights of sexual minorities, saying at a news conference after talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, “Sexual minority rights aren’t violated in Russia”, adding that they enjoy the same rights and freedoms as other Russians. He went on to say, “I consider it necessary to defend the rights of sexual minorities, but… children aren’t born in same-sex marriages. Both Europe and Russia face problems of demographic nature”. Putin noted that although one might solve demographic problems by encouraging migration, he’d like the Russian population to grow because of a demographic boom “in the so-called titular ethnic groups… Russians, Tatars, Chechens, Bashkirs, Dagestanis, and so on”.
Speaking about gay marriages, Putin mentioned the mentality of the Russian people and said that we should deal with such issues should in accordance with the tendencies prevailing in the public mood, stating, “Could you imagine an organisation promoting paedophilia in Russia? I think people in many Russian regions would take up arms. The same is true for sexual minorities… I could hardly imagine them allowing same-sex marriages in Chechnya. Can you imagine it? It would’ve resulted in human casualties”.
Putin reiterated that the gay propaganda rules recently adopted by several Russian regions, which are fiercely criticised by many Western public figures and rights groups, ban homosexual propaganda among minors. Promotion of LGBT values and lifestyle to minors is punishable in St Petersburg with fines of between 5,000 and 500,000 roubles (160 to 16,000 USD. 122 to 12,240 Euros. 105 to 10,480 UK Pounds). Several other Russian regions have similar bans in place. Putin observed, “I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that these laws were adopted on the regional level, and, thus, reflect the stance of the whole Russian society. They aren’t being encouraged by the federal authorities in any way. We need to reach a consensus with this community, to agree on working together. We shouldn’t bicker with each other, we should come to an agreement, to reach understanding, and lay down a certain set of civilised rules. I think this is possible”.
When asked about another trademark topless protest by activists from the feminist group Femen that targeted him as he opened an industrial fair in Hanover, Germany, Putin said, “Thank God, it wasn’t homosexuals who undressed there”. German media said that four women, with obscenities in English and Russian daubed on their breasts, broke through security as Putin and German Bundeskanzlerin Angela Dorothea Merkel were examining a stand at the fair.
8 April 2013
RIA-Novosti
http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130409/180521813/Gay-Rights-Not-Violated-in-Russia—Putin.html
Editor’s Note:
Putin, the KPRF, the Church, and Belarus are on the same page. As HH said, “We respect all human choices, including those of sexual orientation, but we reserve the right to call sin a sin”. That is, homosexuality isn’t going to be recriminalised any time soon (or any time later either). On the other hand, although adult homosexuals won’t be harassed legally (societal attitudes are a different story… one can’t change those by legislative fiat), they’re prohibited from “recruiting” amongst minors. In short, a real compromise is in force. Homosexuals are free from imprisonment, but they must be discreet in their doings. Compared to twenty years ago, it’s an advance, and a major one. In the terms of Russian society, it’s probably the best deal realistically out there.
That’s why American rightwing Orthodox are wrong in their witch-hunts of supposed “homosexuals” (note well that they don’t go after entrenched modernist homosexual elements, though… fancy that… nor do they notice them, either. Methinks that their “gaydar” is busted). The Church is clear… it doesn’t fancy homosexual clergy, but it shows oikonomia to lay homosexuals (especially, if they follow the Church’s teachings). The state is clear… relations between consenting adults are legal, but no “recruiting” of minors is kosher. That’s were Russian society is… it can’t go any further for quite some time. That’s the way it is…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
18 June 2013. You Can’t Make Up Shit Like This… “Sextremist” Topless Protest Targets Belarus President Lukashenko
Tags: aleksandr lukashenko, Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus, Byelorussia, Demonstration (people), demonstrations, FEMEN, feminism, feminists, France, Germany, Kiev, Minsk, Nudity and protest, political commentary, political demonstrations, politics, Protest, protest action, protest actions, protesters, protests, Tunisia, Ukraine
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On Tuesday, cops in Kiev dispersed self-styled “sextremist” topless protesters from the Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN overnight after they attempted to storm a building where Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko was staying, the group said on its website. President Lukashenko, once dubbed by American officials as the “last dictator in Europe”, is in the Ukrainian capital for a two-day official visit. The activists carried burning torches and with daubed slogans, including “Viva Belarus”, “Dictator, Get Out!”, on their bodies, tried to break through security at the residence in downtown Kiev where Lukashenko was staying. Ukrainian riot police prevented them from entering the building and rounded them up. The group said it staged the protest to remind Lukashenko of what it called “the brutal harassment” of FEMEN activists in the forest near the Belarusian town of Gomel in 2011, following another topless demonstration near KGB headquarters in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. FEMEN said their protest also aimed to highlight the plight of independent journalists in Belarus who they claim have “disappeared” after criticising the Lukashenko régime, and of hundreds of political prisoners allegedly “illegally” held in Belarusian prison camps. The group also cited the case of the men who jailed and executed “without any proof” for their alleged role in a deadly bomb attack on the Minsk subway in 2011. The group said in a statement on its website, “FEMEN calls the world to psychological war with dictators! Watch them night and day, don’t let them act!”
In recent weeks, FEMEN carried out a series of high-profile protests abroad. On Monday, FEMEN activists issued a statement on their website saying they “can no longer watch passively” whilst Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan uses force against demonstrators on Istanbul’s Taksim Square, which has been at the centre of mass riots in the country for over a fortnight. The group appealed for money to pay for travel to Turkey, where they threatened to “fight chest to chest” against what it called the “dictatorship” of Erdoğan. In May, Tunisian police arrested FEMEN activists from France and Germany after they made a topless protest in front of Tunisia’s Palace of Justice, after the arrest of a local FEMEN activist following an earlier protest. FEMEN began in the Ukraine in 2008, initially, to protest on women’s rights issues. The group has since made headlines with topless protests around the world on a variety of other political issues.
18 June 2013
RIA-Novosti
http://en.ria.ru/world/20130618/181727545/Sextremist-Topless-Protest-Targets-Belarus-President.html
Editor’s Note:
It takes all kinds! These gals have figured out that if you give the media “T & A”, you’ll always get publicity. They aren’t dumb blondes, that’s for sure. The Ukrainian coppers in the image seem nonplussed, though. That’s part of their strategy, too. As I said, they’re not dumb blondes…
BMD