Homophobia As A Wartime Marketing Tool: Some Russians Fear The West Will Make Them Gay

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) In November 2021, they presented a bouquet of flowers to Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church to award the Order of St. Andrew, which was first named in the Kremlin in Moscow. The two men accused the West of undermining LGBT rights. In Russia.

© (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin pool, Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) presents a bouquet of flowers to Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church during his first induction into the Order of St. Andrew. The Moscow Kremlin in November 2021. The two men accused the West of trying to impose LGBT rights on Russia.

The Union of Russian Writers recently sent a letter to the Russian State Duma, one of the country's parliamentary chambers, with a draft that expands the scope of banned LGBTQ+ "propaganda" that could ban classic literary works, including books. . Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alexander Ostrovsky and many others.

The proposed bill is the latest manifestation of a gay policy the Russian government has used for years to gain legitimacy and influence.

Russia has long been one of the most openly anti-gay and violent countries in the world. Both the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church present the LGBT movement as a symbol of typical Western "corruption and corruption" as the only effective bastion of "Russian traditional values".

The 2013 law bans anything that could be seen as promoting LGBTQ+ rights for children, including any use of the rainbow symbol and rainbow ice cream. The current bill, which is expected to be approved in November, extends the ban to anything interpreted as providing information about homosexuality and applies to all ages.

A participant in the May Day march in St. Petersburg was arrested by the police with a rainbow flag. St. Petersburg, Russia, May 2018

In the year

"He won't accept it."

In the year

Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill (technical bishop of Moscow, born Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundiev), who was a successful KGB informant during the Soviet era and linked to Putin's rise to power, called the invasion of Ukraine a form of holy protest. There is a threat to LGBTQ+ people from the West.

In the year In his March 2022 sermon, he described the promotion of LGBT rights as a "forceful imposition of sin condemned by divine law." The patriarch said the raid was partly a response to threats from a "gay pride parade"; This is a "loyalty test" for any country that wants to be a partner of the West.

Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church In April 2022, a bird was released before the Orthodox Easter in front of the cathedral in Moscow.

Roman Catholic Pope Francis has unconditionally condemned Russia's aggression, not even going so far as to offer full amnesty to any Russian soldier, except for Patriarch Kirill's extremism in supporting Putin's war. Who dies in war?

Such crimes include rape, torture and killings of civilians in Ukraine. How can a so-called "man of God" justify such violence? Because the alternative—a world where LGBTQ+ people have equal rights—seems worse.

Fear of speaking

Although rarely discussed in the Western media, homosexuality has become a cornerstone of Russia's internal propaganda to garner support for its war in Ukraine. Russian media tycoon Konstantin Malofeev used the platform to say, "Our enemy considers homosexual propaganda the basis of his influence."

As one Russian mother told her friend after calling her son: "It's really horrible. But NATO would rather die there than hit us and make us gay."

The Russian propaganda machine seems to have managed to convince the majority of the Russian population to accept three false messages.

1) NATO intends to invade Russia;

2) NATO's main goal is to homogenize Russian children;

3) Homosexuals are not born but come under corrupting influences to "corrupt" others.

Personal test

In the year I personally learned of Russia's complicity in threats to NATO and LGBTQ+ rights in 2020 after being forced to leave the country during the pandemic with my pregnant wife. Similar to the climate in the movie Argo .

Home Office agents were nipping at our heels until we arrived at the Immigration Department in St. Louis. Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg.

In our case, the Canadian Embassy was no less helpful than the movie. Responding to a panicked letter I sent from an airport taxi, he gave me a list of names of Moscow lawyers.

Not long after I fled my country, I was shocked to learn of a small hit published in the Russian media.

Although I was doing harmless historical research on the non-Slavic minorities in southern Russia, the article accused me of being a "NATO spy" working on behalf of "Anglo-Saxon powers" to destroy Russia's territorial integrity; The result is inevitable. Travels of the North Caucasus in southern Russia will be a pride.

Russian hypocrisy

The corrupt Russian elite cannot live up to the same "cultural values" and homosexuality is known even in Putin's inner circle.

The man, who claims to have invited many prominent Russian politicians and businessmen to luxury hotels, has indicated that they usually have wives and children and do not consider themselves gay.

In June 2011, a man attacked gay rights activists at a rally in St. Petersburg, Russia.

On the other front, the hypocrisy extends to Patriarch Kirill.

He is said to be incredibly rich - his personal fortune is estimated at four to eight billion dollars - although he preaches virtue, he owns no fewer than nine luxury residences at home and abroad, luxury cars, a yacht and a private jet. Poverty for the flock.

The Russian government, along with the Russian Orthodox Church, uses LGBTQ+ rights as a red button to garner support for their criminal military campaign, equating the US Republican Party's abortion debate and (including) others. LGBTQ+ social issues over the past four decades.

MORE: Why these days, the GOP's fight for the spirit of "conservative people" may be focused on last-day voters in Utah and St. Louis.

In any case, the deliberate policy of inciting the ignorant and irrational of the populace seems to have had great success in suppressing science and rational discourse - along with any level of human empathy.

This article is reprinted from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to the exchange of ideas among professional scientists.

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Richard Foltz does not work for, consult with, own stock in, or receive financial support from any company or organization that may benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant relationships outside of his academic position.

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