^^^^
And now back to the topic. Why so much outcry about the treatment of gays in Russia? In Russia, the gays are allowed to do whatever they want, as long as they don't hurt anyone. But what about nations such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia.etc? The same people who criticize Russia on gay discrimination keep their silence, whenever anyone mentions the harassment faced by gays in Qatar or KSA. Why these double standards?
That's a logical fallacy my friend, just because something is worse somewhere else doesn't mean that the situation under discussion is acceptable.
These double standards do not exist, people who criticize Russia do not "keep their silence" when they hear about similar harassment in other countries. Russia is quite powerful, is historically important to the rest of the world, and hosts many global events. Therefore, there is abundant media coverage of Russia, including their political/societal stance on issues such as this. As a result, more people criticize them.
And now, back to the topic.
In Russia, gays are, as you say, technically allowed to do what they want. However what they are protesting against is not "being allowed by the state to have anal sex/suck each others dicks/scissor/whatever". They are protesting against not being accepted as proper members of society, and the "gay propaganda law" is exacerbating the issue, because it's allowing less evidence-based education about homosexuality and more misinformation.
Gays have to endure shit like being spat on in the street, being beaten up and generally ostracized by society. Some probably feel they need to hide their sexual preference from people. For example, if a Russian is publically gay, they would probably be far less likely to be hired for a job.
I'm not gay, and I don't enjoy watching gay men making out. If I'm honest, it does gross me out a little. However I also don't enjoy watching fat people make out. Nor would I want to watch members of my family have sex. Although I don't enjoy watching it I think people should be free to have sex with whoever they want, as long as the other party (parties) are consenting adults.
The thing that really gets to me about this thread is the association between gay culture and paedophilia. It's simply not true that many gays propagate any sort of paedophilic ideas. In fact, as I stated earlier in the thread, we see that historically, most paedophiles originate from conservative communities such as the catholic church.
The statistic that people keep repeating (that a third of victims of paedophilia are male) is probably true, but it's being misinterpreted. Just because the victims are male, you can't assume that their molesters are gay. Evidence shows that paedophilia is mostly related to power, not sexuality. We see a similar thing in prisons, where inmates are raped by the more powerful individuals. If anyone has got any
real evidence that paedophilia is a product of gay culture, I'd like to see it.
There is also a huge misconception that reading/hearing about homosexuality will somehow turn more people gay, this I think is one of the assumptions of the "anti gay propaganda" law. Again, evidence has shown that people's sexuality seems to be genetically predisposed. Just look at some of the reports of US bible camps where they try to "pray away the gay!". Newsflash: It doesn't work very well.
Of course I wouldn't be happy with people distributing gay porn to minors, but nor would I be happy if it was regular porn. That's not the issue here, it's about people being accepted by the state and society no matter what their sexual preference (as long as parties involved are consenting adults). Pretty simple really.
This will probably be my last post in this thread, so I just want to make my opinion heard here.
I think it's sad that members of a Bitcoin community that is all about giving freedom and power to the individual over the state, can be so judgmental and ignorant about a culture that they clearly have no experience or knowledge of. Bryant, I've seen some of your comments relating to mass surveillance, and how we should have more power as individuals, yet you think that violent state intervention in gay society is somehow acceptable?
Doublethink at its finest.
