Orthodox believers who support the new Russian laws. (Reuters)
We have been saying for years now that Fundamentalists are basically all the same. The only constraints they have depend on what society in which they’re working. At the end of the day, Christian fundamentalists, Islamic fundamentalists, Jewish fundamentalists and others will conduct themselves according to what they can get away with in the culture where they happen to live. When they live in open, free societies, the harm they do is mitigated by the fact that they can’t impose their religious beliefs (as much) on society, but in nations where religion becomes synonymous with government, the human rights violations follow soon after. So it was that Russia’s lower house of government, the Duma, recently passed laws banning providing information about homosexuality to minors, and criminalizing offending religious believers:
Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, has passed a law imposing heavy fines for providing information about homosexuality to people under 18.
The measure was passed unanimously and will become law when approved by the upper house and President Vladimir Putin, a virtual formality.
[…]
The lower house also passed a bill imposing up to three years in jail on those who offend religious believers.
The law comes in the wake of the imprisoning of members of the punk band Pussy Riot for performing an anti-Putin protest in an Orthodox cathedral in February 2012.
Two band members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, are currently serving two-year jail terms.
The new law on “offending religious feelings of the faithful” will also take effect after approval by the upper house and the president.
In the United States, the Religious Right fights tooth and nail against any educational program that seeks to provide real, factual information to kids about sexuality. In certain less developed corners of the country, they find limited success, but are constrained by the US Constitution, free society and the internet. Likewise, our Religious Right views any criticism of their beliefs as an affront to their “religious freedom,” but they are forced to grin and bear it, due to the fact that their conception of “religious freedom” does not actually include the freedom to never be offended or hear an alternate viewpoint.
But as we know from monitoring the American Religious Right’s activities in the developing world, they act quite a bit differently when confronted with societies where their ideas find more purchase. One need only look at their meddling in Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” law, Campus Crusade for Christ’s support for those seeking to criminalize homosexuality in Ethiopia and across Africa, and Scott Lively’s grotesque work with Watchmen on the Walls in Latvia to see that, when the American news cameras go away, a new, far more sinister message emerges that’s quite frankly pretty much in line with the rest of the religious fundamentalists of the developing world.
This brings us back to Russia. Porno Pete posted a press release from the World Congress of Families, whose contact person is the extremist Jewish fundamentalist American anti-gay activist Don Feder, expressing support for the recently passed “gay propaganda” law in the Duma. Watch as Porno Pete explicitly expresses a desire for repressed nations like Russia to follow the lead of, essentially, Islamic theocracies, who either marginalize or criminalize homosexuality, instead of striving to become more open like the West:
Folks, I’m afraid that the lessons that the United States of America has to teach the world on homosexuality these days are mostly negative: Avoid our mistakes. Don’t become like us. Don’t foster the promotion of radical sexual and gender agendas to your young people. Don’t allow your government schools to become ‘pro-homosexuality zones’ for impressionable students. Don’t treat unhealthly [sic] sexual perversions and gender confusion as a “civil right” or “human right,” etc. [see adjoining photos]
Who can blame Russians for looking at the U.S. Homosexual Lobby’s “Overhauling of Straight America” (to quote the article and book by homosexual marketing strategists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen) and saying, “No thanks!”
I guess if your goal is to lie to your population and foster hatred against a minority, then “No thanks!” is your best bet. Who can blame them?! And if a bunch of LGBT people end up being jailed or killed, well it was for Jesus, right, Pete?
Here is Don Feder’s press release, in which he reveals what fascist pigs American Fundamentalists really can be:
Today [June 11], the Russian Duma gave final approval to a bill prohibiting propaganda on “non-traditional sexual relationships” aimed at the young. The bill awaits action by the upper Chamber of the Russian Parliament (the Council of Federation) and signature by the President, but these are considered formalities.
The European Union pressured the Russian government not to approve the bill, which would prohibit homosexual propaganda that encourages promiscuous sexual behavior among minors.
In January, the Duma, initially approved the bill by a vote of 388-to-1 with one abstention. A survey by The Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion showed 86% of the Russian people support the measure.
Still, Eurocrats and the European anti-family left are making threatening noises. Germany’s self-identified, gay foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, has warned that enactment of the law would “complicate the relationship between Russia and Europe.” EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, a socialist, is also warning Moscow not to enact the measure.
The law was proposed by the Novosibirsk Oblast regional legislature. Dmitry Sablin of the United Russia Party, a strong supporter of the law, offers an historical perspective: “Russia is a country thousands of years old, founded on its own traditional values, the protection of which is even dearer to me than oil and gas.”
World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs wondered why the West can enact laws promoting homosexuality and special rights for LGBT groups while penalizing dissent, but Russia can’t prohibit homosexual propaganda targeted at vulnerable youth who should be protected from adult pressure to engage in unhealthy sexual behaviors?
Interjecting: because the laws protecting LGBT people aren’t “special rights” by any rational human’s definition, no one is penalizing dissent; moreover Russia’s law has nothing to do with banning “promoting sexual behavior,” but rather, despite all the science and reality which shows that LGBT people are completely normal, healthy members of society, marginalizing or criminalizing our existence. That is why. Moving on:
Jacobs noted, “In Washington State, a florist is being sued by the attorney general for refusing to provide flowers for a ‘same-sex marriage’ ceremony. So-called hate crime laws are being used to punish dissent. Allowing homosexuals to serve openly in our armed forces was pushed through a lame-duck Congress. Now the Pentagon is saying that silence isn’t an option – that service members will be forced to affirm homosexual behavior.”
Interjecting: business owners in the United States are also not allowed to discriminate based on race or gender. This has nothing to do with their “religious freedom” and never did. The only group wanting “special rights” is, indeed, American Religious Fundamentalists — they want a special right to discriminate against people, just like the segregationists of old.
“A number of states have passed laws prohibiting minors who want to avoid homosexual behaviors from seeking reparative therapy,” Jacobs added. In her speech at World Congress of Families VII in Sydney, Australia, May 15-18, 2013, Dr. Miriam Grossman discussed bans against reparative therapy as another example of the “political correct” speech that promotes harmful sexual behavior and activities to our youth.
Jacobs asked, “Why is the Russian law protecting youth from unhealthy and unwanted adult influences called a civil rights violation by some, but not a law that bans the voluntary counseling of youth who are seeking to make healthier life choices?”
Just as we have statutory rape laws protecting minors from being sexually violated, because we understand that young people don’t really have the maturity and life experience to truly consent, we should also ban reparative therapy for minors, because, as we know, with 100% certainty, it is harmful and ineffective. As these kids cannot truly consent to being forced into fundamentalist “de-gaying” quack therapy, their parents shouldn’t be able to force them into it. Oh yeah, I just made that parallel.
The WCF Managing Director also noted the increased health risks from encouraging promiscuous homosexual behavior among susceptible youth. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, men who have sex with men (MSM) represent 2% of the U.S. population, but accounted for 61% of new AIDS cases in 2009. According to the CDC, other sexually-transmitted diseases are also prevalent among practicing homosexuals, as is depression, and suicide.
And we also know with 100% certainty that the best way to combat HIV and other STI’s is through education. Moreover, we also know with 100% certainty that the higher prevalence of depression and suicide are a direct result of anti-gay religious groups and other bullies, and have absolutely nothing to do with one’s inherent sexuality. These people should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
A measure similar to the Russian bill is pending in the Ukraine. On May 6, Pavel Parfentiev, WCF Ambassador to European Institutions, participated in a roundtable discussion in the Ukrainian Parliament. The forum adopted a resolution which declared: “Attacks on the family, including propaganda aimed at diminishing family or marriage between a man and a woman and traditional family values, should be regarded as a threat to society.”
The roundtable also endorsed the Memorandum for the Venice Commission, drafted by Russian and Ukrainian NGOs (including the Family and Demography Foundation), showing that the proposed laws prohibiting homosexual propaganda aimed at youth are fully compatible with international human rights norms.
Partners and pro-family groups in more than 80 countries work with the World Congress of Families in its vital work, defending the natural family and the sanctity of human life. WCF Partners in Russia include the Family and Demography Foundation, the Sanctity of Motherhood Program, and St. Basil the Great Foundation.
World Congress of Families VIII will be held in Moscow, the Kremlin, September 10-12, 2014. Click on: www.worldcongress.ru for more information.
This week, the World Congress of Families is holding a WCF Caribbean regional conference – “Building A Culture of Life and A Civilization of Love” in Trinidad, June 14-15. Click here for more information on Building A Culture of Life and A Civilization of Love, June 14-15 in Trinidad, http://wcfcaribbean2013.org/.
For more information on World Congress of Families, please visit www.worldcongress.org. To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs, contact Don Feder at 508-405-1337.
Etc.
What’s horrible here is that these American groups are having success spreading their heinous, harmful beliefs to less connected parts of the globe, and it will have disastrous consequences. Much of Africa is already a danger zone for LGBT people, as American Fundamentalists have supported local religious and political leaders in playing on people’s fears of colonialism, convincing people that homosexuality is a “phenomenon of the white West,” rather than just a naturally occurring part of the human condition. Russia is already viciously anti-gay, and what’s so sad is that the very kids who need to hear true information and receive real support as LGBT people (not “propaganda” convincing them to have sex, as these fascists claim), will be further isolated. That’s where the depression comes from. That’s where the suicide comes from.
But when you’re a fundamentalist, what’s a few million hurting gay kids, if it means you can spread your religious agenda around the world?
