Western Pride In Moscow

From the MT:

“U.S., Western Embassies Fly Gay Pride Flags in Moscow”

 (The U.S. Embassy’s Twitter showed newly returned Ambassador John Sullivan hoisting the rainbow flag.)

The U.S., British and Canadian embassies in Russia on Friday hung rainbow flags on their buildings in Moscow in honor of LGBT Pride Month celebrated worldwide. In a joint statement with colleagues from Australia, Iceland and New Zealand, the Western diplomats said the actions affirm the countries’ “commitment to protecting the human rights of all individuals, including #LGBTI+ persons.” “Unfortunately, LGBTI+ individuals throughout the world continue to face violence, harassment and discrimination simply because of who they are,” the statement reads. “And law enforcement authorities often turn a blind eye to the hate speech and hate crimes that are still prevalent in many countries.”

The British Embassy tweeted a photo of its hanging rainbow flag, while the U.S. Embassy’s Twitter showed newly returned Ambassador John Sullivan hoisting the rainbow flag and the Canadian Embassy’s account showed diplomatic staff posing in front of theirs. “No one should face violence or discrimination for being who they are,” the Canadian Embassy in Moscow tweeted.

The Kremlin, which last year decried the rainbow flag displays on embassy buildings as illegal under Russian law, has not yet commented on the LGBT flag sightings Friday. Displays of the rainbow flag are uncommon in Russia, where “homosexual propaganda toward minors” was outlawed in 2013 and intolerant attitudes toward the LGBT community persist.

June 25 marks the 43th anniversary of the rainbow flag’s first appearance as a gay pride symbol at the 1978 Pride parade in San Francisco. The U.S. has long been critical of Russia’s gay rights record.

^ It is a good stand to show the Russian Government that Homosexuality is normal and should be legal.

Homosexuality was illegal in Czarist Russia (1547-1917) with death as the punishment.

It was legal in Soviet Russia from 1917-1933.

It was illegal in Soviet Russia from 1933-1991 with Gays being sent to the Gulags or Special Psychiatric Hospitals (in the 1950s-1990s) and tortured and experimented on.

It was illegal in Russia from 1991-1993 with Gays sent to prison.

It was legal in Russia from 1993-2013.

Homosexuality is all but illegal in Russia today (since 2013 with its National Anti-Gay Propaganda Law signed by Vladimir Putin) with Hate Crimes against Gays officially allowed, the firing of Gays from the Local, Oblast and Federal Governments, a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy in the Russian Military, People can be fired from any job for being Gay and sent to Prison or Forced Labor Corrective Penal Colonies if they held certain jobs like being a Teacher or  a Professor.

Since 2017 the Government of Chechnya (implemented by Ramzan Kadyrov and endorsed by Putin) has kidnapped Gays and sent them to internal Concentration Camps where they are beaten, tortured and killed- the EU placed sanctions on Chechnya and Russia in March 2021 because of this anti-Gay policy. ^

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/06/25/us-western-embassies-fly-gay-pride-flags-in-moscow-a74345