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Russia: the country that hates gay people

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David Libra

I dare you to try


Joined: 27 Jul 2003
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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 2:28 pm
Post subject: Russia: the country that hates gay peopleReply with quote

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-the-country-that-hates-gay-people-8616223.html

Quote:
The Russian parliament is preparing to pass a bill that would outlaw “homosexual propaganda”, which has prompted fears of a rise in homophobic violence, in a society that already has little tolerance of gay people.

Last week, a 23-year-old man was found dead in Volgograd, apparently attacked by two men he had told he was gay. He had been beaten up, sodomised with bottles, and had his genitals mutilated.

In this climate, the lack of gay people in public life is becoming more acutely felt. There are almost no openly gay figures in the worlds of entertainment, sport and politics.

Many popular singers and entertainers make little effort to hide their sexuality from friends and colleagues but “coming out” to the broader Russian population would be unthinkable. Surveys show that 80 per cent of Russians believe homosexuals should hide their true sexual orientation, and many Russian gays are used to living a double life, sometimes for decades.


"Homosexual propaganda"? These people make the deep south of the United States look sane and reasonable.

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stui magpie Gemini

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.


Joined: 03 May 2005
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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 7:20 pm
Post subject: Re: Russia: the country that hates gay peopleReply with quote

David wrote:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-the-country-that-hates-gay-people-8616223.html

Quote:
The Russian parliament is preparing to pass a bill that would outlaw “homosexual propaganda”, which has prompted fears of a rise in homophobic violence, in a society that already has little tolerance of gay people.

Last week, a 23-year-old man was found dead in Volgograd, apparently attacked by two men he had told he was gay. He had been beaten up, sodomised with bottles, and had his genitals mutilated.

In this climate, the lack of gay people in public life is becoming more acutely felt. There are almost no openly gay figures in the worlds of entertainment, sport and politics.

Many popular singers and entertainers make little effort to hide their sexuality from friends and colleagues but “coming out” to the broader Russian population would be unthinkable. Surveys show that 80 per cent of Russians believe homosexuals should hide their true sexual orientation, and many Russian gays are used to living a double life, sometimes for decades.


"Homosexual propaganda"? These people make the deep south of the United States look sane and reasonable.


In practice it sounds a lot like Australia and the rest of western society of 30 years ago. Not the laws, the practice. Remember Russia was locked up as a communist state for a fair while, they're a fair way behind.

Examples in pop culture of 30 years ago:

Rock Hudson
Molly Meldrum
Elton John.

All their friends and industry colleagues knew but the public didn't. FFS, Elton John even got married to a woman in Australia in what must have been a marketing exercise.

I still remember watching No 96 on TV. The day that launched was described as the day Australian TV lost it's virginity.

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Dr Pie 

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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 7:32 pm
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I doubt if there were many people over the age of 20 who didn't know that Molly was gay even thirty years ago.
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stui magpie Gemini

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.


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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 7:35 pm
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^

Maybe in Melbourne, but Countdown was national on the ABC and we didn't have the internet back then. FWIW I was 17 30 years ago and didn't know although I wasn't surprised when I was told.

The point was, it wasn't publicised. People kept it hidden publically.

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Brenny 



Joined: 05 Apr 2011
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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 8:44 pm
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^ Sounds a lot like the AFL, 30 yrs later!
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David Libra

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Joined: 27 Jul 2003
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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 9:57 pm
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It's not just about a lot of people being closeted — that's still common in many parts of the world. It's about the fact that the Russian government is aggressively pursuing oppressive anti-gay policies. This ban on 'homosexual propaganda' is effectively going to 1) outlaw gay street marches, 2) eradicate any representation of gay people in the media or art and 3) lead to gay rights advocates potentially being imprisoned. Sure, it's not Uganda, but it's not a whole lot better.

Stui, a big problem with Russia at the moment is not the fact that it's taking a little longer to 'evolve' than some Western countries, it's that it's actively headed in the opposite direction. For all its awful aspects, the Soviet Union was ostensibly quite ahead of its time in terms of equality for women, treatment of ethnic minorities, etc. Under Putin, nationalism and religious fundamentalism have increased massively, and the country's brief period as a democracy is effectively over. The Russian police force is essentially an organised crime ring, bailing up random people on the street and harassing them until they give them money. I have no doubt that it'd be a horrible place to be in right now.

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stui magpie Gemini

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.


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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 10:34 pm
Post subject: Reply with quote

Shocked

Hang on,
Quote:
For all its awful aspects, the Soviet Union was ostensibly quite ahead of its time in terms of equality for women, treatment of ethnic minorities,


are you serious with this? Confused

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sixpoints 



Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Location: Lulie Street

PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 10:38 pm
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Not so sure the Soviet Union was ahead of it's time in it's treatment of ethnic minorities. It was an empire that asserted political and military rule to over 100 ethnic minorities. It also did its best to assert cultural dominance as well.
It essentially was Russians practicing hegemony over minorites. Russian became the linga franca, tens of millions of ethnic Russians emigrated (some voluntary, some forced) into non Russian areas.
Effectively the USSR had a Russian majority overall, but a plethora of areas where Russians were a distinct minority.
No need to ask Tartars, Moldovans, Latvians, Chechans or Ossetians what living under Soviet (read Russian) rule was like. You could add at least another 50 minorities at your leisure.
Those nations that have emerged post USSR may well struggle for years, but all empires fail, that's part of the nature of empires. So true to form as an empire fails, the unity of a common language, culture etc will result in peoples asserting self determination on national lines.
Russians becoming more nationalistic and reactionary is again true to form for a nation contracting and declining from its period of Imperial dominance.
It's not a good time to be anything besides an archetypal "Russian" in Russia. Scapegoats will be found, be they foreign, gay or otherwise.
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Dr Pie 

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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 11:47 pm
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stui magpie wrote:
Shocked

Hang on,
Quote:
For all its awful aspects, the Soviet Union was ostensibly quite ahead of its time in terms of equality for women, treatment of ethnic minorities,


are you serious with this? Confused


It's treatment of ethnic minorities was appalling, particularly under Stalin but David is right about the USSR's treatment of women which at least in terms of equality of opportunity was well ahead of the West. To give just one example the majority of doctors in the USSR were female by the 1960s, in Australia women medicos are approaching equal numbers with men but it really only applies to women and men under 40.

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David Libra

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PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 12:02 am
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Thanks for the clarification, SP — I was careful to use the word 'ostensibly' because I'm aware that what was preached and presented in the propaganda films was often quite different from what was practised in reality. The bolsheviks did take the idea of racial equality quite seriously, but it didn't stop them from ruthlessly suppressing the cultures of its diverse ethnic minorities.

Whilst, as Dr Pie points out, women were afforded many rights in Soviet Russia that they only attained more recently in English-speaking countries, at home the gender divide carried on unabated. From my understanding, the 'second shift' was a reality for many Russian women.

Anyway, the point is that Russia isn't even pretending to be progressive any more. It's become a kind of nightmarish mix of hypercapitalist aspirationalism and corrupt police state.

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Dr Pie 

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Joined: 08 Nov 2007


PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 12:59 am
Post subject: Reply with quote

David wrote:
Thanks for the clarification, SP — I was careful to use the word 'ostensibly' because I'm aware that what was preached and presented in the propaganda films was often quite different from what was practised in reality. The bolsheviks did take the idea of racial equality quite seriously, but it didn't stop them from ruthlessly suppressing the cultures of its diverse ethnic minorities.

Whilst, as Dr Pie points out, women were afforded many rights in Soviet Russia that they only attained more recently in English-speaking countries, at home the gender divide carried on unabated. From my understanding, the 'second shift' was a reality for many Russian women.

Anyway, the point is that Russia isn't even pretending to be progressive any more. It's become a kind of nightmarish mix of hypercapitalist aspirationalism and corrupt police state.


Mostly it is a kleptocracy. Even if one thinks (as Stui does) that Capitalism is the best system there was no nascent capitalist class in place when the Soviet Union imploded. Instead a local mafia stepped forward to take control. Many of the new mafiosi were corrupt former Party officials. As a socialist I do not think much of Capitalism but even American style capitalism is vastly superior to the gang of thieves that currently run Russia.

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Jezza Taurus

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PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 12:41 pm
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David wrote:
Thanks for the clarification, SP — I was careful to use the word 'ostensibly' because I'm aware that what was preached and presented in the propaganda films was often quite different from what was practised in reality. The bolsheviks did take the idea of racial equality quite seriously, but it didn't stop them from ruthlessly suppressing the cultures of its diverse ethnic minorities.

Whilst, as Dr Pie points out, women were afforded many rights in Soviet Russia that they only attained more recently in English-speaking countries, at home the gender divide carried on unabated. From my understanding, the 'second shift' was a reality for many Russian women.

Anyway, the point is that Russia isn't even pretending to be progressive any more. It's become a kind of nightmarish mix of hypercapitalist aspirationalism and corrupt police state.

David, have you read Jessie Street's piece on the Soviet Union? She was an Australian feminist who was very impressed with the working conditions that women had in the Soviet Union, so you're not wrong about that, so in that regard you're right. On the other hand, the atrocities committed by Stalin were arguably worser than Hitler's crimes against the Jews and other minority groups in Germany.

To just see how backward Russia is on racial issues as well, visit a soccer game involving Zenit St.Petersburg. Here's an article about it.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/zenit-st-petersburgs-fans-take-1708448

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stui magpie Gemini

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PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 7:50 pm
Post subject: Reply with quote

Dr Pie wrote:
David wrote:
Thanks for the clarification, SP — I was careful to use the word 'ostensibly' because I'm aware that what was preached and presented in the propaganda films was often quite different from what was practised in reality. The bolsheviks did take the idea of racial equality quite seriously, but it didn't stop them from ruthlessly suppressing the cultures of its diverse ethnic minorities.

Whilst, as Dr Pie points out, women were afforded many rights in Soviet Russia that they only attained more recently in English-speaking countries, at home the gender divide carried on unabated. From my understanding, the 'second shift' was a reality for many Russian women.

Anyway, the point is that Russia isn't even pretending to be progressive any more. It's become a kind of nightmarish mix of hypercapitalist aspirationalism and corrupt police state.


Mostly it is a kleptocracy. Even if one thinks (as Stui does) that Capitalism is the best system there was no nascent capitalist class in place when the Soviet Union imploded. Instead a local mafia stepped forward to take control. Many of the new mafiosi were corrupt former Party officials. As a socialist I do not think much of Capitalism but even American style capitalism is vastly superior to the gang of thieves that currently run Russia.


Absolutely I do believe in capitalism, as long as the social agenda is managed. I'm not into pure darwinistic "survival of the fittest" as I believe we have an obligation to ensure society looks after those incapable of looking after themselves. That extends to a liveable minimum wage, universal health care etc etc. Pretty much what we have here give or take a few tweaks.

I don't believe in pure socialism in any sense. It's not something I'm a student of but I'm not aware of anywhere in the world where it's worked and provided a better standard of living to the majority than capitalism.

For mine, socialism is about setting a bar that no one is allowed to go above. Everyone must be dragged down to the lowest common denominator.

Capitalism when done properly with a social conscience, sets a bar which no one should fall below, then provides opportunity for people to achieve according to their potential, ability and/or work ethic and be rewarded accordingly.

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think positive Libra

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PostPosted: Fri May 17, 2013 7:57 am
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stui magpie wrote:
Dr Pie wrote:
David wrote:
Thanks for the clarification, SP — I was careful to use the word 'ostensibly' because I'm aware that what was preached and presented in the propaganda films was often quite different from what was practised in reality. The bolsheviks did take the idea of racial equality quite seriously, but it didn't stop them from ruthlessly suppressing the cultures of its diverse ethnic minorities.

Whilst, as Dr Pie points out, women were afforded many rights in Soviet Russia that they only attained more recently in English-speaking countries, at home the gender divide carried on unabated. From my understanding, the 'second shift' was a reality for many Russian women.

Anyway, the point is that Russia isn't even pretending to be progressive any more. It's become a kind of nightmarish mix of hypercapitalist aspirationalism and corrupt police state.


Mostly it is a kleptocracy. Even if one thinks (as Stui does) that Capitalism is the best system there was no nascent capitalist class in place when the Soviet Union imploded. Instead a local mafia stepped forward to take control. Many of the new mafiosi were corrupt former Party officials. As a socialist I do not think much of Capitalism but even American style capitalism is vastly superior to the gang of thieves that currently run Russia.


Absolutely I do believe in capitalism, as long as the social agenda is managed. I'm not into pure darwinistic "survival of the fittest" as I believe we have an obligation to ensure society looks after those incapable of looking after themselves. That extends to a liveable minimum wage, universal health care etc etc. Pretty much what we have here give or take a few tweaks.

I don't believe in pure socialism in any sense. It's not something I'm a student of but I'm not aware of anywhere in the world where it's worked and provided a better standard of living to the majority than capitalism.

For mine, socialism is about setting a bar that no one is allowed to go above. Everyone must be dragged down to the lowest common denominator.

Capitalism when done properly with a social conscience, sets a bar which no one should fall below, then provides opportunity for people to achieve according to their potential, ability and/or work ethic and be rewarded accordingly.


Run for parliament, I'll vote for ya, that's excellent.

And even I can understand it

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David Libra

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PostPosted: Fri May 17, 2013 6:11 pm
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stui magpie wrote:
Absolutely I do believe in capitalism, as long as the social agenda is managed. I'm not into pure darwinistic "survival of the fittest" as I believe we have an obligation to ensure society looks after those incapable of looking after themselves. That extends to a liveable minimum wage, universal health care etc etc. Pretty much what we have here give or take a few tweaks.

I don't believe in pure socialism in any sense. It's not something I'm a student of but I'm not aware of anywhere in the world where it's worked and provided a better standard of living to the majority than capitalism.

For mine, socialism is about setting a bar that no one is allowed to go above. Everyone must be dragged down to the lowest common denominator.

Capitalism when done properly with a social conscience, sets a bar which no one should fall below, then provides opportunity for people to achieve according to their potential, ability and/or work ethic and be rewarded accordingly.


A social security system isn't capitalism, though. Same with public healthcare, taxation and workers' rights. As far as I can tell, countries like Australia display a mix of capitalist and socialist principles, and I'm not sure I could say with confidence which of the two is more evident.

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