What's the situation in russia?
Recently, heated discussion surrounding gay rights has emerged in Russia as a result of several homophobic laws put in place by President Vladimir Putin in 2013. However, this institutional discrimination is not the result of a leader acting against the wish of his citizens. A poll indicated that nearly 90% of Russians approved the homophobic laws, with many actively pressing Putin to go further. It is of no consequence to the government nor the "anti-gay population" that numerous human right violations are being committed, most notably the violation of the freedom of expression of the LGBTQ community.
This homophobia is rooted in Russia’s complicated history. In czarist times, homosexual acts were outlawed as a result of the homophobic Russian Orthodox Church. Lenin decriminalized homosexuality, partially as a result of the rise of official atheism following the Bolshevik Revolution. However, in 1933, Stalin restored it to the criminal code, and anyone declared to be LGBTQ was sent to the gulag, a system of labour camps. Finally, after the fall of the Soviet Union six decades later, homosexuality was decriminalized again. It wasn't until 1999 that homosexuality was not legally considered a mental disorder. However, the LGBTQ community remained unsure of being accepted because of the country’s history on this topic. Therefore, they didn’t come out and express themselves freely. As of late, many gay pride events in Russia have been shut down by the government.
The result of all of this is that the Russian people do not understand the LGBTQ movement very well, and are more likely to be homophobic than people living in countries where LGBTQ people are more open about their sexuality. 40% of Russians even believe that homosexuality should be made a crime once more.
Homophobia is an especially serious problem in Russia because of the very high levels of hate crimes. In fact, Russia possesses the greatest number of deaths from hate crimes in all of Europe. This trend has been reinforced by the newly introduced anti-gay laws, making it extremely dangerous for homosexual people to come out, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle: the fewer open LGBTQ people there are, the less the Russian public will understand them, which in turns increases the spread of fear and hatred.
An example of this is a Russian vigilante group called "Occupy Pedophilia," which is recognized by the Russian government as a "social movement." The group entraps men seeking a same-sex encounter and then berates them with homophobic slurs and physically assaults them while recording the proceedings on video. They then post the videos on various social networking websites to further humiliate the victims. In May 2013, a gay man was burned to death in the southern city of Volgograd after his assailants sodomized him with empty beer bottles.
This homophobia is rooted in Russia’s complicated history. In czarist times, homosexual acts were outlawed as a result of the homophobic Russian Orthodox Church. Lenin decriminalized homosexuality, partially as a result of the rise of official atheism following the Bolshevik Revolution. However, in 1933, Stalin restored it to the criminal code, and anyone declared to be LGBTQ was sent to the gulag, a system of labour camps. Finally, after the fall of the Soviet Union six decades later, homosexuality was decriminalized again. It wasn't until 1999 that homosexuality was not legally considered a mental disorder. However, the LGBTQ community remained unsure of being accepted because of the country’s history on this topic. Therefore, they didn’t come out and express themselves freely. As of late, many gay pride events in Russia have been shut down by the government.
The result of all of this is that the Russian people do not understand the LGBTQ movement very well, and are more likely to be homophobic than people living in countries where LGBTQ people are more open about their sexuality. 40% of Russians even believe that homosexuality should be made a crime once more.
Homophobia is an especially serious problem in Russia because of the very high levels of hate crimes. In fact, Russia possesses the greatest number of deaths from hate crimes in all of Europe. This trend has been reinforced by the newly introduced anti-gay laws, making it extremely dangerous for homosexual people to come out, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle: the fewer open LGBTQ people there are, the less the Russian public will understand them, which in turns increases the spread of fear and hatred.
An example of this is a Russian vigilante group called "Occupy Pedophilia," which is recognized by the Russian government as a "social movement." The group entraps men seeking a same-sex encounter and then berates them with homophobic slurs and physically assaults them while recording the proceedings on video. They then post the videos on various social networking websites to further humiliate the victims. In May 2013, a gay man was burned to death in the southern city of Volgograd after his assailants sodomized him with empty beer bottles.
THE ANTI-gay "propaganda" law
Since its unanimous passage in 2013, Putin's anti-gay law has prompted and encouraged systemic discrimination, violence and crimes against actual or perceived LGBTQ individuals in Russia. The law deems same-sex relationships inferior to heterosexual ones, and bans the distribution of homosexual “propaganda” to minors. Specifically, it prohibits the public acknowledgement or support of the dignity, equality and rights of LGBTQ individual through protests, rallies, and even simple acts such as waving a pride flag. Financial penalties include:
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- Citizens can be fined up to 5000 rubles (1 RUB = $0.03 CAD)
- Public officials up to 50,000 rubles
- Organization/business up to 1 millions rubles and forced to cease operation for 90 days
- Foreigners detained for up to 15 days, deported, then fined for up to 100,000 rubles
- Citizens using media or Internet to promote rights up to 100,000 rubles.
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SOCHI WINTER GAMES
The Olympic Charter guarantees the full realization of international human rights, stating that “… Any form of discrimination… on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement” (6th Fundamental Principle of Olympism) and that the IOC’s role is, among other duties, “to act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement” (article 2-6). During the lead-up to the games, the global community was very vocal in their protest of this violation of human rights and in their support of the LGBTQ community. For example, the official U.S. delegation sent to Sochi by the Obama administration was composed of many openly gay athletes, as well as many of the most well-known supporters of human rights. However, several human rights abuses did occur during the games, including the arrest of a pregnant woman and the public beating of Pussy Riot members.
Media in russia
Although freedom of speech and freedom of the press are provided under the Russian constitution, various aspects of the contemporary press freedom situation in Russia have been criticized internationally. Government application of law, bureaucratic regulation, and politically motivated criminal investigations have forced the press to exercise self-censorship constraining its coverage of certain controversial issues, resulting in infringements of basic rights. It is important to note that television in Russia is the leading source of information, with 94% of Russians watching TV on a daily basis. Moreover, the three most popular channels are state owned. For this simulation, you will be divided into three media outlets, two within and one outside of the country.