Hunted - Documentary of Homophobia in Russia

With the Olympics bringing so much attention to Russia, Dispatches has done a new documentary, this time about the homophobia found in Russia. It's... pretty disturbing to watch.

 
A friend of mine posted this on FB a few days ago. I made it to 1:30 and had to shut it off because it made me sick, angry, and sad all rolled into a ball in the pit of my stomach.
 
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Russia’s Anti-Gay Law & LGBT Rights

1. The law never mentions or uses the word gay, lesbian, homosexual or any other LGBT identifier. [Chapter 2 & Appendix]
2. The law focuses on children, it’s title is “On Protections of Minors from Propaganda of Non-Traditional Sexual Relations”. The messaging and strategy to bring the ban on propaganda from the law of several regions to national laws is part of a larger family values push and is based on the successful anti-same sex marriage push in the United States. [Chapter 2]
3. Russia is actually expanding protections of members of the LGBT community: On September 20, 2013 the official delegation of the Russia Federation announced their willingness to take all required measures to prevent homophobic hate crimes and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation at the 24th UN Human Rights Council. [Chapter 2]
4. There have been regional (much harsher) versions of the propaganda ban in effect for 7 years and there were only 2 convictions for violations of the regional laws and both were overturned. [Chapter 3]
5. In 6 months of the Federal Law there have been 3 convictions: 2 were acts of civil disobedience to challenge the legality of the law, the other is a story which you must read. [Chapter 3]
6. Statistically you are far more likely to be the victim of an anti-LGBT Hate Crime in the United States than in Russia. [Chapter 4]
7. In Russia you cannot be fired from your job for being an LGBT individual, in the United States you can. [Chapter 4]
8. Since 1993 gay sex was made legal in Russia, in 12 US States gay sex is a crime. [Chapter 4]
9. While President Obama says “I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.” his policies demonstrate he has nothing but patience. [Chapter 5]
10. The group impacted most if found to be in violation of the law: Multinational corporations. [Chapter 6]

Source: http://static.prisonplanet.com/p/images/february2014/white_paper.pdf
 
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Russia’s Anti-Gay Law & LGBT Rights

1. The law never mentions or uses the word gay, lesbian, homosexual or any other LGBT identifier. [Chapter 2 & Appendix]
2. The law focuses on children, it’s title is “On Protections of Minors from Propaganda of Non-Traditional Sexual Relations”. The messaging and strategy to bring the ban on propaganda from the law of several regions to national laws is part of a larger family values push and is based on the successful anti-same sex marriage push in the United States. [Chapter 2]
3. Russia is actually expanding protections of members of the LGBT community: On September 20, 2013 the official delegation of the Russia Federation announced their willingness to take all required measures to prevent homophobic hate crimes and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation at the 24th UN Human Rights Council. [Chapter 2]
4. There have been regional (much harsher) versions of the propaganda ban in effect for 7 years and there were only 2 convictions for violations of the regional laws and both were overturned. [Chapter 3]
5. In 6 months of the Federal Law there have been 3 convictions: 2 were acts of civil disobedience to challenge the legality of the law, the other is a story which you must read. [Chapter 3]
6. Statistically you are far more likely to be the victim of an anti-LGBT Hate Crime in the United States than in Russia. [Chapter 4]
7. In Russia you cannot be fired from your job for being an LGBT individual, in the United States you can. [Chapter 4]
8. Since 1993 gay sex was made legal in Russia, in 12 US States gay sex is a crime. [Chapter 4]
9. While President Obama says “I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.” his policies demonstrate he has nothing but patience. [Chapter 5]
10. The group impacted most if found to be in violation of the law: Multinational corporations. [Chapter 6]

Source: http://static.prisonplanet.com/p/images/february2014/white_paper.pdf
Oh, well, my mistake then. Russia is totally ok with gays.

Snark aside, I DID know about number two, and I think it's one of the most hurtful parts of the law. It gives government sanction to the already wrongfully held stereotype that gay people are somehow harmful or corrupting to children, or even worse that they are all pedophiles.

Also, most of that is covered in the documentary.
 
...It's legal in the US to fire someone over their sexual preference? Seriously? Sheesh.
Implicitly, yes. Sexual preference and gender identity are not protected classes in most US states, so you can theoretically be fired for either of those in any of those states.
 
Implicitly, yes. Sexual preference and gender identity are not protected classes in most US states, so you can theoretically be fired for either of those in any of those states.
Huh, didn't know that. I thought that was inthe Universal Human Rights but it's only in the European Human Rights, so, yeah. TIL and all that.
 
Almost half the states do have anti-discrimination laws on the books for sexual orientation (not preference). Gender identity is still lagging behind even those states.
Most major corporations have company policies against it. Though, that's less about actually being non-discriminatory and more about staying in compliance across the board in all states they operate in.
 
I'm going to point out that even if the US had the exact same laws on the subject as Russia, you'd still see gay people being fired by fundamentalist Christian employers for "business reasons", so it's not that great a point. In neither country is sexual orientation an explicitly protected class under the terms of employment on a federal level.
 
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