(Joel Goodman/London News Pictures/ZUMA)
I wonder which group of meddling Fundamentalists from which western nation gave the Russians this idea:
Russia could soon reintroduce the ban on blood and organ donations for gay men, but offer them free treatment facilitating ‘conversion’ to heterosexuals, a senior Russian MP has said.
“We will suggest amendments to the law on donors that reintroduce homosexuality to the list of contraindications for blood donations in Health Ministry instructions,” said State Duma MP Mikhail Degtyarev, who is also a Moscow mayoral candidate from the populist-nationalist party LDPR.
The politician told a news conference in Moscow that in his view such a step could not be considered discriminatory, as 65 percent of all HIV-positive persons are homosexuals. Degtyarev did not give the source of this statistics.
Degtyarev also added that the lower house was working on the initiative to offer gays voluntary anonymous consultations with psychologists, psychotherapists and sexologists that would help them to “return to normal life and become heterosexuals, as are 95 to 99 percent of our citizens.”
David Badash asks a pertinent question:
The “therapy” supposedly would be anonymous and voluntary. But given Russia’s current war on the LGBT community, how long would it be before the government-sponsored “ex-gay therapy” became not voluntary, but mandatory? Would those convicted of violating Russia’s “homosexual propaganda” laws be “offered” the option to undergo harmful conversion therapy in lieu of a jail sentence? The mind reels at the possibilities.
One wonders if they might even set up special camps for the purpose.
As the “ex-gay” industry sputters and backfires in the United States, it’s important to remember that those who are still active are more extreme than ever, and that at least two of the US activists who have either pushed or provided “ex-gay” therapy have a clear record of either working directly in Russia, or allying themselves with organizations that have the ear of the Kremlin. Look for a very long piece tomorrow which explores this idea further.
