Russia clamps down on gay rights

[Prospero]

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/europe/2013/03/2013324125327397909.html

[hippifried]

Back in the bad old days of the cold war, there was a constant hue & cry over state persecution of the Orthodox church. Now it seems like things have reverted to the bad older days of persecution by the church through the state.

This isn't really a problem about "gay rights". The problem is in the refusal of the state to accept the existence of civil/human rights in the first place, let alone recognize them. They're viewed as privileges, granted or endowed by the state, rather than something innate. Privileges can be revoked. This legislation uses homophobia to push itself past a broader outrage at the attack on civil rights, but it's actually a ban on the dissemination of information.

[Ben]

'Gay propaganda' ban in Russia stirs high emotions:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/russianow/society/9937618/gay-propaganda-ban-russia.html