A Chance to Open Up Russia?

[Dakotah]

Way to take what I said out of context. Reread the part you asked "Says who?" I clearly state that the law was invalidated, thus it can no longer be considered a law. It was invalidated in 13 other states as well.

So, I still have yet to see any law stating that being gay was a crime. Some of the sex, maybe, but not the sexuality in itself, which is essentially what Russia did with their law, since the term "propaganda" is so broad that they could use it for anything.

Your understanding of law is seriously flawed. Any first year law student could pick apart everything you've said and show you where you are wrong. But somehow I don't believe that would make a difference. For you seem to be unwilling to accept that just maybe others might have an insight into these things which you don't.

I've been on this planet for over 40 years. I've been a gay rights advocate for 11 of those years. As such I've heavily invested myself in learning everything I can to help me help the LGBT community further its goal of equality under the law. Even in Canada, where I live, there are still issues that need to be addressed, and this is a country which already has full marriage equality.

 

[Mareeep]

Even if human rights are as bad in Russia as the United States makes them out to be, that still makes the United States hypocritical because we emphasize it so much more in countries like Russia and Middle-Eastern countries that America as a society has designated as "bad" than we do in countries like China that we have an economic interest in, and are therefore "good." We try and appear the good guys, stamping out injustice and cruelty, but we're incredibly biased in our judgement, and a biased justice is no justice at all.

 

[zakisrage]

Russia isn't going to adopt Western morals right away. It's still backwards in some respect. For example, prejudice against the country's non-Russian ethnic groups is very common, and Russia's history is sullied with the persecution of Jews and Muslims. Also, there's lots of orphans in Russia and drug problems are pretty bad. Plus the government is repressive. Russia clearly has a long way to go.

One thing that's caught my attention about the Sochi Olympics that no one has mentioned is the protests by the Circassians. The Circassians are the original inhabitants of the area, and they faced a genocide many years ago. A lot of them are protesting the games because Russia does not recognise the Circassian Genocide, the 150th anniversary of the genocide is during the games, and they're holding a skiing/snowboarding event on a hill where their people were massacred. I personally think that they should still have the games, but at least let the Circassians include their traditions like the native peoples in Canada got to during the previous Winter Olympics. It only shows Russia's apathy towards its minorities.

 

[Sopheria]

I really don't think we can exclude Russia, let alone most if any countries, from the civilized world.

Well why can't we exactly? By definition if they're mistreating people on the basis of their sexual orientation, then isn't it by definition not part of the civilized world? I mean, that's a pretty backward practice.