Satire Essay On Lgbt Rights In Russia

This paper addresses human rights abuses against members of the LGBT community in Russia. The LGBT community has been a marginalized group of society in Russia in many ways throughout history, however the legislation that was recently passed in Russia goes a step further to strip these individuals of their human rights and dignity. The legislation is inconsistent with several human rights provisions in international treaties that have been ratified by Russia: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment (CAT); and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR); and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). There are also several articles in Russia’s own constitution which are incompatible with current human rights abuses against the LGBT community, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and the Yogyakarta Principles.

In Marc Bennetts’ article, “Russia’s anti-gay law is wrong – but so is some of the criticism from the west”, he explains what exactly the law is about in laymen terms. Though the law is ‘vaguely’ word as Bennetts puts it, the law basically outlaws propaganda of homosexuality to minors. Bennetts is stating how the western world, the United States mostly, has played into Vladimir Putin’s hands by its criticism of the law.

Similarly, the United States LGBTQ+ community suffers from similar assault cases and psychological damage. Violence towards the LGBTQ+ community in America is not as publicly seen or heard of as in Russia, but it is still there. Russia and the U.S have similar, yet different forms of hate crimes against LGBTQ+ persons. In the United States, sexual assault and gun violence are often what you hear in regards to hate crimes; that is if it is large enough to make the news at all. Unlike in Russia, the police must investigate the crime, since it is an act of discrimination. The difference in the United States and Russia in the regard is that by law (depending on the state) the United States must stop discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.

LGBT people have been oppressed and discriminated against for hundreds of years, and still are today. During the AIDS crisis, and average of 1 out of every 6 LGBT men were diagnosed with AIDS (“How”). But before I get too far ahead of myself, let us start from the beginning. Homosexuals have been oppressed for as far back as biblical times. Leviticus 20:13 states “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.’”. Though there is speculation over whether this verse refers to pedophilia or not, it still was a cause for a massive amount of homophobia. (“History”). As a result of homophobia, AIDS research was heavily underfunded. AIDS was thought of as a sort of punishment for LGBT men’s “sinful acts”. Ryan White, a teen at the time, was expelled from school for having AIDS (“History”). AIDS patients were

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that, " All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" (Amnesty Int'l...). Accordingly, human rights violations committed because of the victim's real or perceived sexual identity must be met with a concerted and sustained international response. Working with the help of 20 other countries from the belief that all people deserve equal protection under law, a growing international movement is taking up the challenge of protecting the dignity and rights of people everywhere who are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or transgender. A new program to aid in this is OUTFRONT, Amnesty International USA's program on human rights and sexual identity. This program is a response to the need for activists who confront these violations and protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Gay rights has been an issue that has been controversial for decades, although it was never discussed until now. Society has changed over the last years, in fact it has changed so much in the past 20 years; with that said race, drugs, and sexuality are still the main factors in modern times. Not only does this subject affect America, but also other countries, they are just silent about it. We really don’t hear about any misconduct toward gays in other countries, besides Russia. The gays want their rights in America and Russia, they are speaking out and they will be heard. LBGT, Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender, are not only fighting for their rights and equality, but to ban discrimination all around the world. Russia is more anti-gay and more extreme than America, they’d let extremist take advantage of homosexuals. Since Russia’s government strongly implements that being gay is wrong and will do anything to keep that mindset. America on the other hand is more towards equality for the LBGT, they’ve spoken out to demand the same rights as everyone else, slowly the LBGT in Russia are setting their foot down and want the freedom to walk the down the street with their loved ones and not be targeted. Russia and America have a different way of handling gay rights, and handling them as a whole. The battle of the gays has been going on for decades.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people remained silent and unseen in American culture until after the Second World War. During the mid-1950s, there was a rise in discrimination against the people of the LGBT community. LGBT individuals were seen as a threat to the American way so as that belief grew so did the harassment. Imagine living in a world that tells you what you can and cannot do. Many people of the LGBT+ community have been harassed or worse based on their sexual orientation, which goes against Article two of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Due to the prejudice against the LGBT+ community many have risen up to protest and voice their opinion against their oppressor. Society should be unbiased about sexual orientation.

The history of Russia and the Soviet Union is rich with culture and tradition. This tradition dates back well before homosexuals were common throughout society. When members of the gay community finally felt comfortable to begin coming out to the public, the Soviet Union decided to suppress their actions by outlawing homosexuality. Though harsh, these laws were not much of a shock to

The significance for LGBTQ+ people to have equal rights should still be a concern due to the atrocious crimes being committed. For example, extrajudicial killings of LGBTQ+ people in Chechnya. Other occurrences have been disappearances, systematic torture that occasionally occurs in death, the prison conditions are life threatening and violence towards LGBTQ+ community are

“Until 2003, [homosexuality] was still a crime in parts of our country” (H. Clinton 45). It is truly unbelievable to think that it was a crime to admit to who you are just over ten years ago. The rights of the LGBT, or the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transexual, people have been repeatedly pushed aside and ignored for far too long now.

The Animal Farm book is a well-known novel that uses allegory and satire to make light of the Soviet Union during the mid-1940’s. The author George Orwell has been known for many famous and well know novels such as 1984, Animal Farm and Down and Out in Paris and London. George Orwell is the known author for these novels, but many don’t know that it was a stage name. The author’s real name was Eric Arthur Blair, Eric was a novelist, political writer and journalist. These occupations he had explains the reason his novels tend to relate and depict certain political situations, and figure in society. Eric lived from 1903 to 1950,

A series of events have been set in motion globally to thwart the progress of one of the most consequential cultural shifts in human history. The gay rights movement, particularly in the Western World, has made progress at an exponential rate and has remained a contentious source of argument in the contemporary social and political landscape. Although significant strides have been made, right-wing religious groups have taken ideologically charged action both legislatively and rhetorically. In a collection of Eastern European and African countries, anti-gay legislation and sentiment has garnered support from regional governmental factions and right-wing religious coalitions. The force driving these anti-gay initiatives are not at the behest of the citizenry of each respective region, but by American forces that until recently have been working in the shadows in their proxy war against the gay rights movement. American evangelical groups have been operating with collaborators abroad in order to preserve their notion of natural and traditional values. Most notably, a series of anti-gay propaganda and anti-gay adoption laws have been enacted in Russia by national legislators and American activists. The American right-wing evangelical coalition has had tremendous influence on the Russian anti-gay movement legislatively and politically over the course of the last decade.

As anyone in the 21st century can attest to, our social and moral norms are constantly changing. Things that were once considered taboo or unacceptable even 50 years ago are now more commonplace and an accepted aspect of our culture. One area that has showed a great increase of acceptance among people is the issue of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgendered rights (LGBT). While there are numerous social issues that I believe are important to our society and culture, I felt a special need to research and report on LGBT rights, as it seems there are so many people who are blatantly opposed to this lifestyle for various reasons. I feel it is important for people to not only understand the advances that have been made, but more importantly,

For an extensive historical time, individuals who are LGBT+ have gone through numerous struggles. LGBT+ members include people that are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and many others. They have been shamed, denied jobs, dismissed from the military, sentenced to execution, imprisoned, tortured, and treated with violence and discrimination because of their sexual orientation. Throughout the course of time LGBT+ individuals have become more accepted but still are discriminated against in many parts of the world.

In 1991, a poll that was taken of Chelyabinsk reveled Russian thoughts on homosexuality. 60% of the people had a negative attitude towards gays. 30% said that gays should be isolated from society. 5% said that gays should be liquidated (killed). Another 5% labeled homosexuality as “unfortunate”. When Russia was under Boris Yeltsin’s rule, which lasted from 1991 to 1999, the government was much more tolerant of the LGBT community. On May 27, 1993, homosexual acts between consenting males was legalized. Also, in 1996, a Russian LGBT rights organization called “Triangle” was formed. Since 1999, Russia has been under the control of Vladimir Putin. In 1999, homosexuality was removed from the Russian list of mental disorders. In 2002, Gennady Raikov, who is a leader of a conservative pro government group in the Russian Duma, suggested outlawing homosexuality, but he didn’t get enough votes. On July 1, 2003, homosexuals were allowed into the military. In May of 2005, Nikolai Alekseev founded the LGBT Humans Rights Project Gayrussia.ru, and a year later, the Russian LGBT network was created. But that’s where Russia’s recognition and toleration of gays stops. Since 2006, Russia has become more and more resentful and violent towards the LGBT community.