Putin Defends Russia on LGBT Rights “More Progressive than U.S.”

 

I am just going to post this page from Dominic Preston on frontiersmedia.com on which he describes part of the interview that President Vladimir Putin gave to 60 Minutes. I watched last sunday and I ‘m going to let another blog describe the part in which Putin talked about LGBT rights in Russia.

 I laughed, smirked  and got tears on my eyes during the interview so I think is better I let someone without my passion to the issue post it just for today.

                                                                        

 Young Gay Russians get beaten attempting to hold Pride last year

  

Russian President Vladimir Putin challenged the suggestion that his country’s laws persecute LGBT people during an appearance on CBS last night, arguing that the issue has been “deliberately exaggerated.”

Putin appeared on 60 Minutes for a two-part interview on a range of issues, including LGBT rights. The Russian leader surprised many viewers by insisting that he supports equal rights.

“I believe there should not be any criminal prosecution or any other prosecution or infringement of people’s rights on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religious or sexual orientation,” he told Charlie Rose. “The problem of sexual minorities in Russia had been deliberately exaggerated from the outside for political reasons, I believe, without any good basis.”

“We have no persecution at all. People of non-traditional sexual orientation work, they live in peace, they get promoted, they get state awards for their achievements in science and arts or other areas. I personally have awarded them medals.”

He even went so far as to suggest that Russia is more progressive than the U.S., drawing attention to the states that still have laws on the books criminalising same-sex relations – though he neglected to mention that those laws were invalidated by the Supreme Court in 2003.

Pushed on Russia’s controversial ‘gay propaganda’ law, which makes it illegal to promote ‘non-traditional sexual relationships’ to minors, the president insisted that it was simply to allow young people to make up their own minds.

“I don’t see anything un-democratic in this legal act,” Putin said. “I believe we should leave kids in peace. We should give them a chance to grow, help them to realize who they are and decide for themselves. Do they consider themselves a man or a woman? A female? A male? Do they want to live in a normal, natural marriage or a non-traditional one? That’s the only thing I wanted to talk about. I don’t see here any infringement on the rights of gay people.”

The interview follows the recent announcement that Putin phoned singer Elton John and proposed a face-to-face meeting in the future, as the Kremlin appears to be trying to rehabilitate Russia’s homophobic international image. Though as the author of the ‘gay propaganda’ law, Vitaly Milonov, has just been awarded one of the country’s highest honors, Putin’s actions seem to tell a different story.