A report from Izvestia by Sergey Podosenov alleging that gay protests in Russia are organized from abroad.
Political Experts Predict a Russian Gay Revolution
Such a scenario described in Centre for Political Information report.
Foreign-funded LGBT organizations could prepare a gay revolution in Russia that would plunge the country into a new period of chaos similar to that of the 1990s. This conclusion is contained in a report made by the Centre for Political Information, Homopoliticus.
The document notes the activation of sexual minorities in the Russian political arena. One of the future goals of this activity that the report refers to is the creation of an LGBT party.
“At its present stage, the LGBT community should focus its political efforts primarily on stimulating interest in gay issues, and only be ready to prepare for the, so to say, coming-out stage of the party” the document says.
Therefore, the political activities of LGBT activists have been targeted primarily at the younger generation. They “consider it essential to introduce in Russian schools work so as to educate pupils about these issues”. Accordingly, experts consider the authorities justified in their efforts to legislate a ban on the promotion of homosexuality among youth. Homosexual experts have named as another object of ideological attacks the Russian Orthodox Church, which is regarded as the main ideological opponent of the LGBT movement. One of these attacks on the Church was the Pussy Riot “punk prayer” in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral, Moscow.
Despite extensive financial support from abroad, the LGBT movement is still unable to boast of substantial progress in promoting its values amongst the Russian population. “The belief that there has now been imposed from outside a tolerance in Russia towards LGBT does not correspond with real feelings in Russian society”, according to a survey research centre Pew Research. On the issue of whether same-sex relationships are accepted by society, 74% of respondents answered negatively in Russia, which is the highest amongst all European countries “, the report says. In May 2013, the International Lesbian and Gay Association recognized Russia as being the most unfavorable place in Europe for members of the LGBT community to live.
The political activity of sexual minorities has been directed against the main public institutions in the country, the traditional family and the Church, and to that extent it is opposed to the existing political regime in Russia, which strives to protect these institutions. That is why gay men took an active part in the wave of protests in 2011-2012.
“Political groups use gays and gay men are trying to use the political groups”, said the report’s author, director general of the Centre for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin.
In this regard, he sees three ways in which the situation could develop. According to the first, “evolutionary” scenario, the main struggle between homosexuals and heterosexuals will unfold in the international arena. There will be a constant demand that the Russian leadership legalize gay marriage and gay pride parades, appealing to those on the sidelines with the example of “European tolerance” and that they not fall into the “trap of stereotyping people”. The purpose of this action is to create preconditions for the manipulation of public opinion and the Russian establishment in the interests of the gay community.
However, given the weak susceptibility of Russian society towards tolerant values that are televised from the West, we cannot exclude another “revolutionary” option. “It is likely that there will be some sort of gay sexual revolution”, accompanied by the collapse of a weakened public morality. In this case, Russia runs the risk of re-starting a period of artificially organized chaos similar to the chaos of the 1990s” the document says.
“We clearly see the risk that the LGBT community can be a factor of destabilization” says the analyst.
Finally, a third option is possible: a “conspiracy”. Having infiltrated themselves into the Russian power elite, the gay community seeks to become a “special social group of homosexuals that directs the wants and needs of heterosexuals in order to satisfy homosexual interests” – a sort of “gay behind the scenes” group. This group tries to impose on Russian society a representation of gays being the most intelligent and gifted in society. This strategy consists of three phases: the formation of tolerance and friendliness to LGBT; the recognition of LGBT and straight equality; and finally, the recognition of gay domination. Alexei Mukhin believes that a manifestation of this strategy in Western Europe is the banning of the terms “father” and “mother”, which has been replaced by the terminology “parent number 1” and “parent number 2”.
He was confident that in our country the gay elite has considerable leverage.
“Judging by the fact that I could not find a place to present the report, and was denied influential news agencies without further explanation, then “gays behind the scenes” are very influential in our country” complained the analyst.
Deputy Secretary of the General Council of “United Russia”, Sergei Zhelezniak, agrees that the activities of the LGBT community in Russia have the characteristics of those of the opposition. Nevertheless, he sees no political prospects for them.
“Those taking part in protest rallies who oppose traditional family values are more likely to belong to the LGBT community. But I do not see in the next few decades any prospects for them. They will not have any children and will be banned from adopting them” the politician said.
The Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, has pointed out that the promotional efforts of LGBT community are paying off.
“LGBT opposes the right to call good ‘good’ and evil ‘evil’; it is against the public’s right to make moral judgment and to oppose vice; it is against a family that consists of men, women and children. And the most dangerous thing of all is that this is not just limited to LGBT. In a society where this trend is beginning to dominate, there is no future” said the priest.
Chairman of the Russian LGBT Network, Igor Kochetkov, accepts that there is a conflict between the LGBT community and the pro-government organizations, but stresses that Russian gays are not prosecuting any anti-state objectives.
“On the contrary, we are seeking only to comply with the provisions of the Russian Constitution. The principle of equality is enshrined in the Constitution, so we are acting completely constitutionally in demanding that the constitution be applied. And as regards those who act against the state constitution, they are the ones who today, for example, passed a law banning the unacceptable propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.”
He points out that this “state homophobia” encourages the activities of right-wing organizations, which, in his opinion, are the most destructive force in the country. Gays, according to him, are prepared to co-operate with the state.
“There is conflict, but we do not provoke it” said an LGBT activist.
