Russia's gay community in fear as homophobic attacks increase

[OMGImInPattaya]

Maybe the Russian people need to be reminded that their best know (and most loved?) composer, Tchaikovsky, was gay...but alas he was compelled to commit suicide because of his homosexuality.

it's your personal opinion is not based on facts

Are the Russian people still in denial about this...that you killed one of your nation's greatest artists? Gay people exist and have always existed...even in Russia. Get used to it!

[Vadmoscow79]

You can listen to imagine that only the Russian and live all free time go from door to door and identify gays. then cut off his heads and go play football , in the evening going to the Red Square drink vodka and dance in a circle rusty nuclear bomb.

We all live in a society on the adopted laws and regulations command. we are all equal.

if a person is behaving like an animal does not matter gay or not - attitude is like an animal.

I want all upset. we do not care about Russian gays.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Vadmoscow79

[balo]

When you spot Russian couples in Pattaya walking hand in hand wearing silly white straw hats , its just like watching a 70's movie , their mindset is really 40 years back in time , also when it comes to sexual identity.

Edited December 22, 2014 by balo

[Vadmoscow79]

With your fellow hard to communicate.

why then do you believe about the plight of gays in Russia. Take to his home a couple of gay I assure you, Comrade, you very quickly realize that wrong.

and you will be a homophobe

[Vadmoscow79]

When you spot Russian couples in Pattaya walking hand in hand wearing silly white straw hats , its just like watching a 70's movie , their mindset is really 40 years back in time , also when it comes to sexual identity.

what a difference how and who dresses? Every day I watch in Pattaya people from all over the world dressed as patients in a mental hospital. How and what to wear is a personal matter.

Just try to understand

if you do not understand something or not like it does not mean that it is bad

[Scott]

Numerous posts removed along with one poster -- at least for a time.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Wasn't Ivan the terrible gay? you can't get more Russian than him!

And Catherine "The Great." I've read she was quite a ladies lady

[OMGImInPattaya]

I have no great regard for the lunatic fringe of the gay rights movement - the far left activists - but what is happening in Russia is about basic human rights, that everyone is entitled to. I don't see how anyone can make excuses for what is happening there and in most Islamic countries around the world.

What's that supposed to mean? Gay marriage was considered a leftie "lunatic fringe" idea only a few years ago. Do you not recall the infamous DOMA signed into law by that paragon of heterosexual virtue Bill Clinton...or the rabid GOP initiated campaign of writing anti gay marriage amendments into state constitutions to excite and get out the vote of their homophobic base.

In future, please keep your homophobic rants to yourself!

[jacky54]

Wasn't Ivan the terrible gay? you can't get more Russian than him!

It's your imagination, or you have the facts? maybe a video or photos?

Was told this when I visited Moscow in May 1970 by an official tour guide

[Choctastic]

...what is happening in Russia is about basic human rights, that everyone is entitled to. I don't see how anyone can make excuses for what is happening there.

Russia is a collectivist society. The rights of the individual are secondary to the rights of the collective. Trying to understand the Russian mindset and the arguments they are using is legitimate. Violent reactions from some members who demand only one point of view, is repression and the real 'hatred' on here.

In 1993 homosexuality was decriminalized, in Russia. It takes time for attitudes to change. Having blocked informational access to children, I don't see how any change in attitude is now possible. Russia is going in the opposite direction, with attitudes against LGBT people increasing. It's a difficult situation as this piece explains... http://www.globalequality.org/newsroom/latest-news/1-in-the-news/186-the-facts-on-lgbt-rights-in-russia

Skinhead gangs and 'boot boys' and 'suede heads' were pretty active in my town in my youth. I spent most of my teenage years trying to avoid them. 'Gay-bashing' existed but so did 'granny-bashing', bashing you at football grounds, bashing you for walking on the same side of the street and bashing you just for the love of violence. My youth was mostly about survival and the police weren't interested, so I have every sympathy. In fact, not feeling safe from violence is one of the reasons I left the UK. Today, feral youths from sink-estates are an unfortunate fact of life, where no-one feels safe.

[Morch]

Maybe the Russian people need to be reminded that their best know (and most loved?) composer, Tchaikovsky, was gay...but alas he was compelled to commit suicide because of his homosexuality.

it's your personal opinion is not based on facts

Are the Russian people still in denial about this...that you killed one of your nation's greatest artists? Gay people exist and have always existed...even in Russia. Get used to it!

Actually, less clear cut than portrayed in previous posts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky

Not sure how things in Russia stood at the time, from a social point of view, in relation to other countries. Clearly his sexual preferences were not that acceptable, to say the least:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky#Sexuality

And here's the present day connection and relevance to the topic:

Tchaikovsky's sexuality 'downplayed' in biopic under Russia's anti-gay law

Russia's legislation banning "gay propaganda", which has already cast a cloud over the 2014 Sochi Olympics, has now reportedly prompted local filmmakers to self-censor their portrayal of the composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky, who is widely believed to have been gay.

A partly government-funded biopic of the composer of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and the 1812 Overture will downplay his sexuality amid the homophobic political atmosphere in Russia, which passed a law in June banning the "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" among minors.

The film's screenwriter, Yuri Arabov, denied Tchaikovsky had been gay and said his script had been revised to portray the composer as "a person without a family who has been stuck with the opinion that he supposedly loves men" and who suffers over these "rumours", he told the newspaper Izvestiya.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/25/russia-anti-gay-law-tchaikovsky-sexuality