Shinrei, on 20 February 2014 - 02:56 PM, said:
Tapper, on 17 February 2014 - 10:43 AM, said:
It's also clear that the IOC, sponsors, media companies and large parts of the viewing audiences don't give a (large enough) fuck or do not associate the Olympics with LBTGQ rights or think they can get away with it.
What can the IOC do exactly though? They awarded these olympics to russia long before the laws were enacted.
For the record, I found Beijing to be a far more objectionable venue. So yeah, I guess IOC not giving a fuck is probably about right.
Though the laws themselves were not in place when Russia was awarded the Olympics, they were definitely under discussion - and the gay propaganda laws are far from being the only issue at hand here, when it comes to LGBT rights in Russia. They're just the most visible.
From Wikipedia:
In 2002, Gennady Raikov, who led a conservative pro-government group in the Russian Duma, suggested outlawing homosexual acts. His proposal failed to generate enough votes but the suggestion generated public support from many conservative religious leaders and medical doctors.[2]
In 2003, a new statute about military and medical expertise was adopted (1 July 2003); it contained «a clause of "deviations of gender identification and sexual preferences" among the reasons of disability for military service <...> this clause irritated the proponents of having equal rights for people of different sexual orientation <...> [while] another clause said that different sexual orientation should not be considered a deviation.»[27] Finally, Valery Kulikov, the Major-General of the Medical Service, announced:
"The new statute about military and medical expertise from 1 July 2003 does not forbid people of non-standard sexual orientation from serving in the military.... The issue of person's homosexuality is not medical. There is no such diagnosis as homosexuality in medicine. There is no such illness in the classification of World Health Organization. The new statute about military and medical expertise follows international law practice. Therefore the reasons for evaluating the ability to serve for homosexuals are the same: physical and psychic health.[27]"
"People of non-standard sexual orientation can have problems when being in the Army, and therefore should not reveal their sexual preferences, Valery Kulikov said. "Other soldiers are not going to like that, they can be beaten."»[27]
In May 2005, LGBT Human Rights Project Gayrussia.ru was founded by Nikolai Alekseev to fight discriminations on the basis of sexual orientation and raise awareness of LGBT issues in Russia. In July 2005, Nikolai Alekseev launched the Moscow Pride initiative which has been organized every year since May 2006. As of July 2009, LGBT Human Rights Project Gayrussia.ru is a transnational organization promoting LGBT Rights in Russia and Belarus.
In 2006, Grand Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin was quoted as saying about Moscow Pride marchers, "If they come out on to the streets anyway they should be flogged. Any normal person would do that – Muslims and Orthodox Christians alike".[28] Similar comments were made by one of Russia's Chief Rabbis, Berl Lazar, who joined Tadzhuddin in condemning the march, saying that it "would be a blow for morality".[29]
Russian LGBT network was founded in May 2006. As of July 2009, this was the first and only interregional LGBT organization in Russia.
In late April and early May 2006, protesters blockaded some popular gay clubs in Moscow. After initial complaints that police had failed to intervene, later blockade attempts were met with arrests.[30]
In May 2006, a gay rights forum was held in Moscow. An accompanying march was banned by the mayor in a decision upheld by the courts. Some activists, head of them Nikolai Alekseev tried to march despite the ban and attempted to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This march is known as the first Moscow Pride. This act and the presence of non-Russian activists aroused a nationalist reaction in addition to a religious condemnation of homosexuality, leading to the presence of both neo-Nazi groups and Orthodox protesters threatening the gay activists. Anti-march protesters beat the marchers, and about 50 marchers and 20 protesters were arrested when riot police moved in to break up the conflict.[31] The documentary Moscow Pride '06 features the events that took place from 25 to 27 May 2006 in Moscow. It contains a vivid testimony of the first attempt to stage a gay pride march in Russia as well as the festival organized around it."
"With regards to what the heads of regions say, I normally try not to comment. I don't think it is my business. My relation to gay parades and sexual minorities in general is simple – it is connected with my official duties and the fact that one of the country's main problems is demographic. But I respect and will continue to respect personal freedom in all its forms, in all its manifestations."
President Vladimir Putin, when quizzed on the ban of the Moscow Pride Parade, 1 February 2007.[32][33]
On 27 May 2007, the Moscow Pride was banned again by the former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who had earlier branded it as "satanic",[34] was held in Moscow again and for the second year running degenerated into violent clashes with anti-gay protestors. For the second time police failed to protect gay rights activists. Italian MP Marco Cappato was kicked by an anti-gay activist and then detained when he demanded police protection. British gay rights veteran Peter Tatchell and Russian gay leader Nikolai Alekseev were detained as well.[35][36] The march is documented in the 2008 film East/West - Sex & Politics.[37]
On 1 June 2008, Moscow Pride again attempted to hold a gay parade. Some 13 Orthodox opposers were held by police for violent actions against protesters.
Those are all things that happened before July 2007 when the IOC voted for Russia to host the Olympics...
But what's perhaps more troubling is what happened in the following couple of years:
On February 2009, at the final press conference in Moscow the Russian LGBT Network and the Moscow Helsinki Group published a paper titled «The situation for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people in Russian Federation».[38][39] This is the first complex study of the legal situation of LGBT people in the history of Russia. The 100-page paper contains the analysis of relevant Russian laws and also assembles and generalizes specific instances of infringement of rights and discrimination.
Nikolai Alekseev at the Slavic Pride festival on 16 May 2009. Two anti-riot police stopped Nikolai Alekseev and his partner, a transgender activist from Belarus.
On 8 May 2009, Russian Duma rejected a bill criminalizing gay "propaganda" in Russia (with only 90 votes in favor against 226 minimum required). This bill was initiated in 2007 by a Fair Russia party member and suggested depriving those who "openly demonstrated a homosexual way of life and a homosexual orientation" of the right to hold posts in educational establishments or in the army for a term from 2 to 5 years.[40] According to Interfax, the parliamentarians decided that gay "propaganda" was not dangerous for society and thus could not be punished under the criminal code.[41] Nikolai Alekseev, Chief organizer of the Moscow Pride, commented that with parliament rejecting this bill, it is likely that the Constitutional Court of Russia follows their request to cancel a similar law that is in force in the Ryazan Region.[40]
On 16 May 2009, the Moscow Pride timed to coincide with Moscow's hosting of the 2009 Eurovision song contest finals was broken up by police, with all 30 participants – including British human rights activist Peter Tatchell – arrested.[42][43]
On 17 May 2009, for the International Day Against Homophobia Russian LGBT network organized the «Rainbow flash mob» in Saint Petersburg; this event brought together from 100 to 250 people by various estimations, and the organizers consider it to be the most large-scale action in the whole history of Russia dedicated to the problem of LGBT rights.[44][45][46][47][48] Also the action in smaller scales has passed in more than 30 cities of Russia.
Anyway, what's important to note from the above is that the Fair Russia party member introduced the Gay Propaganda law in 2007. This isn't something new, and institutionalized homophobia in Russia is far from something new.
You're right, what was happening in Beijing was also bad. Unfortunately, I was less informed back then, and frankly gave less of a damn. But using the fact that we or the IOC ignored gross human rights violations in the past as an excuse for ignoring them now is not acceptable. Apathy does not drive change.
Help
