Want QueersTo Disappear? Don't Talk About Them

In Russia, Saint Petersburg's decision to ban all public activity and discussion of LGBT issues--even on the Internet--was signed into law and took effect on March 12th. 

Saint Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia--and the one that won an award from the United Nations for tolerance--is not the only Russian city to have banned LGBT public activity and discussion.  Archangelsk and Kostroma have also approved such a ban, and Moscow has yet to host a legally sanctioned Pride Parade.

These local decisions conflict with the national Russian Constitution, namely Article 29: Freedom of Speech, Article 19: The Ban on Discrimination, and Article 55: The Ban on Local Governments Infringing on the Rights of Minorities.  Unfortunately, these articles serve to protect the majority, as opposed to minorities, in Russia.  Most non-Russian minorities who are not considered "white" or Orthodox Christian have no personal security in Russia, as police and government officials themselves hold prejudiced beliefs.

Russian justifications for the ban on LGBT public activity and discussion include protection of traditional morals, protection of the family structure, and protection of children from pedophiles and the gay agenda.  While homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, and removed from the list of mental illnesses in Russia in 1999, 70 per cent of Russians still believe that gays are mentally ill, and 40 per cent believe they should be isolated from mainstream society.

Before anyone criticizes the Russians for their "ignorance", remember that the religious right in the United States also would promote such a policy where "it's not OK to say 'gay'", as they have in Tennessee and Utah.  American evangelist Scott Lively, originator of Uganda's "kill the gays" bill, had conducted a speaking tour in Russia and wrote a letter to the Russian people to defend themselves from the "fast growing cancer" that would destroy "the family foundations of [Russian] society".

Can Americans learn from this, and not allow religious leaders to take up real estate in the White House, as the Russian Orthodox Patriarch has done in the Kremlin?