"Why Russia Turned Against The Gays."

A headline at Buzzfeed. Excerpt:

Russia’s new laws — banning same-sex foreign couples from adopting Russian children in addition to banning LGBT advocacy — are part of the country’s very search for survival, according to [Russian legislator Yelena Mizulina].

On the one hand, there’s its physical survival — Russia’s birthrate plummeted in the wake of the Soviet collapse and encouraging baby-making (through government grants as well as rhetoric) has been one of Vladimir Putin’s hallmarks. And then there’s its moral survival; if Russia is to survive as Russia it needs to reject the corrupting influences of the West....

According to the article, Vladimir Putin used his image and personality in place of ideology, back when people were tired of Communism. But over time that strategy became ineffective, so:

Putin has launched a campaign to shore up support in the Russian “heartland,” that mythical place far from the bustling streets of Moscow where headscarved peasants embrace core Russian concepts that don’t actually exist anymore.

In the absence of any ideology — any core belief to tie together the Russian state and nation — the easiest way to fill the vacuum has been by turning to the Russian Orthodox Church, a deeply corrupt, reactionary, and Kremlin-loving institution...

The second easiest thing has been to demonize the “Other,” creating an internal enemy for everyone to fear.... Demonizing gays allows Putin to tell the “heartland”: I will protect you and your “traditional” families; you are the real Russia....

I wonder if looking like Putin will scare any Americans away from the anti-gay agenda. The resonances here are subtle enough that those who don't want to see them won't.

ADDED: "What it’s like to be an unassuming gay-rights activist in Russia today."



I need subtitles! I thought I knew who was the gay guy — the small redhead in the leather jacket — but the longer the video went on, the more confused I got. The thuggish guys who are picking on the redhead, they're the anti-gay guys, right? But what's with the tight, striped tank tops and the hats and the ripped abs? They seemed gay. Then the police/military guys show up and start rousting the tankie guys into paddywagons. Are the Russian authorities harassing the anti-guy guys? That would cut against the story that it's gay people getting suppressed these days. And what's with "OMOH" on the backs of the uniforms? If you see that in your rear view mirror, it spells "HOMO."