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It's literally illegal to say it's OK to be gay in Russia. They are an oppressive government that is targeting my people for extermination.

• felipepiresx 11y ago
  It's not illegal to be gay in Russia. Although their gay law is backwards. It's a far cry from what you see in the Middle East. It looks more like what you see in Middle USA. Conservative, yes, oppressive and dangerous, not necessarily. Im for LGBT rights, but this topic is overblown.
  • amyjess 11y ago
    I live in Texas, I am out and proud as a transgender lesbian, and I've never had any problems. It's not illegal to say it's OK to be gay anywhere in the US, but it is in Russia. It is oppressive and dangerous.
    • felipepiresx 11y ago
      Not true. I've seen gay people and bars in Russia. You clearly have never been there. Go back to watching MSNBC and screaming MUrica
• pluma 11y ago
  Maybe so. But I'm not saying you shouldn't criticize Russia. I'm saying it's stupid to make blanket statements about people who don't demonize all things Russian. Besides, a lot of anti-nonheteronormative politics in Russia likely have more to do with political tactics than with actual convictions of Putin or anybody else. For example the Russian Orthodox church is still immensely powerful in many parts of Russia and condemning "sexual deviants" is an easy way to score points with them and the corresponding demographic (and thus voters). There's a nice phrase that was introduced by a Jew documenting the trial of one of the organizers of the Holocaust: the banality of evil. Most acts of evil are either well-intentioned or simply "accidentally" evil -- the evil itself is merely a consequence or side-effect. Yes, you should oppose repressive policies. Vehemently so. But "Russia" as a whole is far more complex and complicated than any individual policy or group of policies. I'm strongly opposed to a lot of what the US is and does, both as a government and as the people that elected and sustains that government's actions. But it would be absurd to deride people who say anything good at all about the US or Americans simply for not immediately qualifying their statements with criticism. I wouldn't want to live in Russia or the US. I think both countries are guilty of all sorts of crimes against their own citizens and mankind in general, each in their own uniquely horrible ways. But that doesn't mean they have no redeeming qualities. Heck, even Hitler was a vegetarian and had an affection for dogs.