Posted on 06/27/2013 5:15:29 PM PDT by kronos77
Russian President Vladimir Putin defended a proposed ban to place severe restrictions on the rights of gays and lesbians this week, saying that the measure to limit the speech and free assembly of LGBT individuals in Russia is about “protecting children.”
The “gay propaganda” ban would impose fines of up to 100,000 roubles (more than $3,000) on individuals found guilty of “promoting non-traditional relations to minors,” a provision that is so broadly defined that it effectively turns being gay and out in Russia into a serious legal liability. (To say nothing of jeopardizing the safety of gays and lesbians in the country.)
Putin went on to call gays and lesbians in Russia “full-fledged members of our society” who are “not being discriminated against in any way.”
“It’s not about imposing some sort of sanctions on homosexuality,” he continued. “It’s about protecting children from such information. Certain countries … think that there is no need to protect [children] from this… But we are going to provide such protection the way that State Duma [parliamentary] lawmakers have decided.”
The proposed ban passed the State Duma 436-0 earlier this month and was approved by the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, on Wednesday. It is now on its way to Putin, who is expected to sign it.
My Grandfather’s homeland speaks the truth.
Our government is following Lenin, while Russia is following Solzhenitsyn.
I am old enough to remember a time when the Russians were our foes. And yet, I have lived long enough to where I can say that they are doing something much better than we are- taking a strong stand against a wicked degeneracy, something we used to be able to do. Truly the world is changed, or at least the US, and not for the better.
“Certain countries … think that there is no need to protect...”
Gee, I wonder what country he is referring to?
#20 & #23
Agree with you both.... and yes, it is simply bizarre!
I will say, I could be wrong on this. But this is how I see it:
I think Putin saw from the inside how decrepit the Soviet system was. He appreciated the prestige it had on the world stage, as an Imperial Russian, but he knew deep down it was rotten to the core.
Many have made hay of his statement of how the collapse of the Soviet Union was a tragedy.....In context, I look at it more at how the post-collapse was handled, and yes, there was much that could have been legitimately criticized about it, but he has also said many times, that he’s glad that the Soviet Union is no more, and he has no desires to bring it back. The Russian Communist Party hates his guts.
He wants a strong Russia, and I think there is a role, especially in keeping the Muslims in line in Central Asia. Better that than for them to be independent of Moscow. They sure seem to be better at keeping Muslims in line than we are.
In my opinion Russia is back to what it was before the Bolsheviks, an Imperial power, but the US and Russia had cordial relations back then, and I don’t see why it cannot be again.
But we did stupid things to poke Russia, like Kosovo. That made it very hard for the proud Russians to believe that the US wanted friendship with Russia.
He is an authoritarian, yes.....but that’s par for the course in Russia.
Putin gets it! Funny thing, too, because his name is “Put•in”.
They’ve been paying attention to the Jerry Sandusky case.
We haven’t. (FReepers excluded)
Really? Those USSR foes were your enemies? Sorry, I don’t think you ever fought them, as a full-on enemy. Now you exercise your privilege, bought by others, at their expense. How, boomie of you.
right on, vlad.
No, I didn’t fight them. I didn’t claim to either. Like all good Americans in those days I understood the Soviet Union to be, as Ronald Reagan succinctly put it, an evil empire, and one opposed to the United States at that. Therefore, at the time, enemies.
If I were younger I think I would seriously consider moving to Russia. Life seems freer there.
I have said if I didn’t have any family, I would seriously consider moving to Russia. When I was growing up, the Soviet Union was the big enemy. Now my own government is the enemy and Russia has more freedom and common sense.
The KGB ran and funded the US culture of death and destruction in the cold war through leftists and their useful liberal idiots. They are not going to do it to their own society! What we call “liberalism” was designed and implemented to bring down the US.
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