Police detain around 25 gay rights activists in St Petersburg

 

A police officer takes away a flag from detained demonstrators during the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community rally in central St. Petersburg, Russia August 4, 2018. REUTERS/Sergey Konkov NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

 

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) - Russian police detained around 25 gay rights activists who took part in an unsanctioned rally in St Petersburg on Saturday, according to Reuters witnesses.

 

A few dozen activists gathered at Palace Square on Saturday afternoon, defying a ban to hold the rally.

 

Organisers had said they would stage one-man protests to demand freedom of association after city authorities turned down their request to hold a parade.

 

Police detained campaigners who unfurled rainbow flags or held placards, dragging them into a police bus. There were no clashes between police and the activists.

 

Russia passed a law in 2013 banning the spreading of gay "propaganda".

 

Last month, Russian police briefly detained British LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell after he protested near the Kremlin in support of gay rights.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-08-05

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Russia passed a law in 2013 banning the spreading of gay "propaganda".

“This is why homophobia is a terrible evil: it disguises itself as concern while it is inherently hate.”

 

Tyler Oakley, Binge

Oh dear, good job it's Russia and not NY or SF.  Imagine the angry tweets emanating from the latter if an American news outlet had written "LGBT", thus eliminating at two strokes the Q and the + brigade....

15 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

19 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Russia passed a law in 2013 banning the spreading of gay "propaganda".

“This is why homophobia is a terrible evil: it disguises itself as concern while it is inherently hate.”

 

Tyler Oakley, Binge

I don't know who to believe and what is the truth. As I remember it (I could be wrong) it was a ban on handing out explicit gay sex education literature to minors under the age of 18. Reuters may spin it as the banning of gay "propaganda" but that may not be accurate. Just western media spin. Reporting on not being able to get a parade permit while many African countries jail/ kill members of the LGBTQ community with impunity. This writer and Reuters should be shining the spotlight on their plight and the laws still on the books in many third world countries. 

17 minutes ago, Ulic said:

I don't know who to believe and what is the truth. As I remember it (I could be wrong) it was

a ban on handing out explicit gay sex education literature to minors under the age of 18. Reuters may spin

it as the banning of gay "propaganda" but that may not be accurate. Just western media spin.

Reporting on not being able to get a parade permit while many African countries jail/ kill members

of the LGBTQ community with impunity. This writer and Reuters should be shining the spotlight on their

plight and the laws still on the books in many third world countries. 

The Russian “laws” are based on nothing but hate. 

Gay pride was cancelled by the city authorities , so there is a reason for this rally.  

 

The World Cup is over in Russia so everything is back to normal . 

 

1 hour ago, blazes said:

Oh dear, good job it's Russia and not NY or SF.  Imagine the angry tweets emanating from the latter if an American news outlet had written "LGBT", thus eliminating at two strokes the Q and the + brigade....

Oh dear, what an inane post.

11 hours ago, Ulic said:

I don't know who to believe and what is the truth. As I remember it (I could be wrong) it was a ban on handing out explicit gay sex education literature to minors under the age of 18. Reuters may spin it as the banning of gay "propaganda" but that may not be accurate. Just western media spin.  Reporting on not being able to get a parade permit while many African countries jail/ kill members

of the LGBTQ community with impunity. This writer and Reuters should be shining the spotlight on their plight and the laws still on the books in many third world countries. 

"Police detained campaigners who unfurled rainbow flags"

I have no problems with Gays. But is it really necessary to promote their sexual preferences? No.

Sent from a so called Smartphone using an App.

33 minutes ago, alocacoc said:

I have no problems with Gays. But is it really necessary to promote their sexual preferences? No.

Sent from a so called Smartphone using an App.
 

Was that what they were doing?? Or were they promoting gay rights? 

Was that what they were doing?? Or were they promoting gay rights? 

No, it was gay propaganda. That's obvious. Look at photos and videos. They even misused a Jesus statue. Break the law, do the time.

Sent from a so called Smartphone using an App.

Sounds like they need a law against homophobic propaganda in Russia rather than so called gay propaganda. What an IGNORANT and hate filled nation is Russia today. We see many Russians in Thailand. According to this poll, the vast majority are vile homophobes.

 

Quote

It is not illegal to be gay in Russia, but homophobia has been on the rise in the past several years. A recent poll from the Levada Center found that 83 percent of Russians, regardless of age, think gay sex is "always reprehensible" or "almost always reprehensible."

 https://www.advocate.com/world/2018/8/04/russian-police-detain-25-lgbtq-activists-st-petersburg

 

13 minutes ago, Becker said:

Was that what they were doing?? Or were they promoting gay rights? 

Yes, they are fighting against unfair oppression under murderous dictator Putin. They have little chance of success until Putin is gone. He controls everything. 

3 hours ago, Ulic said:

I don't know who to believe and what is the truth. As I remember it (I could be wrong) it was

a ban on handing out explicit gay sex education literature to minors under the age of 18. Reuters may spin

it as the banning of gay "propaganda" but that may not be accurate. Just western media spin.

Reporting on not being able to get a parade permit while many African countries jail/ kill members

of the LGBTQ community with impunity. This writer and Reuters should be shining the spotlight on their

plight and the laws still on the books in many third world countries. 

You are wrong. The law is extremely oppressive. It includes displaying rainbow flags in public, any form of same sex public affection, demonstrations of "groups" over one person, etc. I find it truly disgusting that any westerner would try to make excuses for Putin. As far as gays being murdered, yes dear, it is happening in Russia too.

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/01/30/gay_russia_under_putin_brutal_bloody_and_horrifying.html

 

Quote

The Brutal, Bloody Horror of Gay Life in Putin’s Russia

 

2 hours ago, alocacoc said:

No, it was gay propaganda. That's obvious. Look at photos and videos. They even misused a Jesus statue. Break the law, do the time.

Sent from a so called Smartphone using an App.
 

Yes, sure, it was obvious..

 

BTW, how does one "misuse" a statue??

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Sounds like they need a law against homophobic propaganda in Russia rather than so called gay propaganda. What an IGNORANT and hate filled nation is Russia today. We see many Russians in Thailand. According to this poll, the vast majority are vile homophobes.

 

 https://www.advocate.com/world/2018/8/04/russian-police-detain-25-lgbtq-activists-st-petersburg

 

"Reprehensible" eh?  This word neatly illustrates how, in modern social media discourse, an opinion can be hijacked arrogantly and aggressively and turned into evidence of some "phobia" or other.

Some people may think that the habit pursued by many French people of eating frogs' legs is "reprehensible".  Does that make them "francophobes"?

The absence of logic here is pathetic: "we see many Russians in Thailand" becomes, in the next sentence, "the vast majority are vile homophobes".  

8 hours ago, alocacoc said:

No, it was gay propaganda. That's obvious. Look at photos and videos. They even misused a Jesus statue. Break the law, do the time.

Sent from a so called Smartphone using an App.
 

what exactly is "gay propaganda"?

6 minutes ago, blazes said:

"Reprehensible" eh?  This word neatly illustrates how, in modern social media discourse, an opinion can be hijacked arrogantly and aggressively and turned into evidence of some "phobia" or other.

Some people may think that the habit pursued by many French people of eating frogs' legs is "reprehensible".  Does that make them "francophobes"?

The absence of logic here is pathetic: "we see many Russians in Thailand" becomes, in the next sentence, "the vast majority are vile homophobes".  

Actually, the absence of logic on your part is astounding. The animus in your example is against French people who pursue a certain practice: eating frog's legs. So if such a prejudice existed, it would only be against French people eating frog's legs. Not against all French people. In the same way there is a widespread prejudice in Russian against Russian gay people. So by the logic of your example, you are claiming that somehow the prejudice by non-gay Russian people against gay people somehow generalizes to be a prejudice by non gay Russians against all Russians. Wouldn't that leave gay Russians as the only Russians not to be prejudiced against all Russians? I never realized that most Russians hated themselves for being Russian.

What you've written is obvious nonsense.

3 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Actually, the absence of logic on your part is astounding. The animus in your example is against French people who pursue a certain practice: eating frog's legs. So if such a prejudice existed, it would only be against French people eating frog's legs. Not against all French people. In the same way there is a widespread prejudice in Russian against Russian gay people. So by the logic of your example, you are claiming that somehow the prejudice by non-gay Russian people against gay people somehow generalizes to be a prejudice by non gay Russians against all Russians. Wouldn't that leave gay Russians as the only Russians not to be prejudiced against all Russians? I never realized that most Russians hated themselves for being Russian.

What you've written is obvious nonsense.

 

Ditto with italics.

11 hours ago, Becker said:

Yes, sure, it was obvious..

 

BTW, how does one "misuse" a statue??

Climb on a Buddha statue and you'll find out quickly.

26 minutes ago, JoeInSurin said:

Climb on a Buddha statue and you'll find out quickly.

That's desecration (for a believer) and not "misuse". 

Nothing against gays, my brother's best friend was gay and, by all accounts, it gave him a step up the ladder rather than down, there's something known as the gay network. But you, mostly, have to live within the mores of the society you're presented with, unless you're a Ghandi or a Mandella. Challenging current social mores is risky, but hey, no progress without it; mostly it leads nowhere, occasionally it leads to real progress. As an individual you'll get nowhere, but if you have an undercurrent of public empathy you have a chance. Does this exist in Russia? You tell me.

20 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Sounds like they need a law against homophobic propaganda in Russia rather than so called gay propaganda. What an IGNORANT and hate filled nation is Russia today. We see many Russians in Thailand. According to this poll, the vast majority are vile homophobes.

 

 https://www.advocate.com/world/2018/8/04/russian-police-detain-25-lgbtq-activists-st-petersburg

 

"Sounds like they need a law against homophobic propaganda in Russia rather than so called gay propaganda."

 

Agree entirely and, like another poster, I'm left wondering what on earth is 'gay propaganda'??

 

Presumably, it's daring to form groups demanding equal rights for gays.

Edited August 6, 20187 yr by dick dasterdly

7 hours ago, Becker said:

That's desecration (for a believer) and not "misuse". 

Yeah. Right. Lol.

They been had Vlad?