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Doesn't he know how international politics works? Why would we strain a relationship with another country just because some citizens of ours went over there to start trouble even if it is a noble cause? It is one thing to support these protesters but if Hilary Clinton spoke out against these government actions it will have real consequences.
Oddly enough I spent the summer of '92 in Russia when the first roving gay clubs where happening in the capitals, and I remember a night in Moscow when hundreds of skinheads and nationalists surrounded a rented dance hall, hoping to beat the shit out of everyone inside. The Moscow police kept them at bay and safely escorted all of us out at the end of the evening - and they were completely supportive of those of us inside. I haven't been to Russia since 2007, but every time I went, it felt like things were getting worse in terms of gay rights. Good for Choi and others for speaking out. It probably won't do much in the short term, but at least it draws attention to the situation.
Looks like Hitler got farther than we thought...
You know what beating up people different from you is? Well, that's a manifestation of raw libidinal energies governed only by the pleasure principle.
BITCH PLEASE.
Google "blacks in Russia"
http://cnettv.cnet.com/racism-russia/974…
Is that really your problem, you're all either disgusted (bad santorum experience maybe) or jealous?
If, when you see a man getting beat up while marching for his rights, all you can think is "cum, lust, libido, buttsex", really that's your libido that is the problem.
Didn't we learn our lesson in Iraq and Afghanistan? You cannot impose cultural change from outside a country.
Cult
We give up. Why?
Here's one for you:
Why is the homosexuals' attention so focused on sodomy?
And feces?
Just how many times a day does Danny post about frothy feces?
You're mistaking the santorum joke, which is a funny way of remembering that this man isn't worth more than a piece of crap, with you're own obsession, which draw you to project your lust on a act of bravery.
Exactly. Well said.
It seems to be, perhaps, some weird ass sexist, nationalist bullshit, if anything.
Which is why some foreign agitator (for lack of a better word, sorry, Mr. Choi) really has no place trying to upset the status quo there. Homosexuality is un-masculine, and in Russia, men are supposed to be hyper masculine in order to be hyper-Russian. So I'm pretty sure that in order for change to come, it can't come from us (no matter how sexy Russians can be). If, however, Putin came out and said he enjoyed the occasional bit of penis, something might change.
My own experience in Ukraine is that homosexuality is seen as a disease -- they keep thinking about "unnatural practices" (and yes, they fixate on anal sex). I sometimes wonder if Eastern European homophobia is a bit like a blood feud: Teh Gayz did something horrible (sodomy) that soils the honor of All Manly Men Everywhere, and we can't just let this go without some sort of reaction to save our honor and show the world there are Real Men(tm) in here!
There's some of the disease/contagion aspect to it as well: judging by my father-in-law's reaction in one occasion, they won't even touch someone who is suspiciously gay lest they should be "contagious" (заразно).
Few average Russians, on the other hand, would back a Pride Parade. The level of just general public support isn't there -- yet. And certainly not now where strangely enough the increased (REAL) terrorist threat in Russia has created stronger feelings of fear against "the other." Not saying it shouldn't happen. Just saying that Choi is naive.
Run the following through Google translate for a better idea of the situation there:
http://www.bg.ru/article/8273/
http://www.bg.ru/article/8662/
Bolshoi Gorod hasn't posted anything yet about events on May 28th, but when/if they do, I'll share. It's one of the issues they occasionally cover.
And actually, from what I see in the news, what Dan Choi and some other foreign protesters did at least created a level of visibility for the problem. No one would even talk about it otherwise. Now the newsline is not just "Illegal Gay Parade Broken Apart By Police".
The footage at Red Square of Choi and his friends is, comparatively speaking, a non-event. By comparison consider viewing the above link to a YouTube clip of four policemen defending a bunch of teenaged boys who'd been set upon by a bunch of skin head/soccer hooligans after exiting a pizza parlor. Three of the boys were dark skinned. The cops were all white-skinned small town boys (ie. not native Muscovites) who were unarmed and just doing the right thing (they'd been posted to patrol the area and keep hooligans away from a monument statue during an anticipated rally/protest, but got caught up in the one big extremely cowardly attack - 50+ grown-ups beating up five 15 year-olds. They'd thought that someone was in the ambulance, but it turned out to be just parked and locked, so they shoved the boys up against the vehicle and put themselves between the mob and the kids while waiting for back-up -- at one point they even had the boys lie under the van.)
The sick thing in both the clip of Choi and the clip of the cops protecting the boys is that the ones leading the charge ahead of the hooligans in both cases all seem to be members of the press. Not sure what to think about that.
(Oh, and the T-shirt in question says С Нами Бог or literally With Us God).
An interesting story about skinheads and soccer fans in Russia can also be read at http://www.bg.ru/article/8418/
(You'll need to put it through Google Translate to get the details, but the pictures alone are compelling enough...)
The idea--as in Uganda--is to make some room for the voices against bigotry. However small, however inconsequentially at first, it is necessary to make efforts for equality [starting with simply making the issue visible] or equality will never be realized.