Brutal videos fuel Russian anti-gay campaign

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:28pm

Sickening

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:29pm

And here's a video link
Not for the squeamish

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:37pm

"Even back in the USSR, where homosexuality was a criminal offence, gays were treated better than they are now in Russia. Ordinary people see us as criminals. They hate us."

Talk about damning testimony from the very people who have to endure this crap.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:48pm

Our lesbian rabbi delivered a beautiful sermon about what is going on there, urging us all to NOT BE SILENT.

She talked about the repression against Soviet Jews in the 1960s and 1970s, making it illegal for them to be who they were, using psychological warfare against them to brand them as "enemies of the state," with no ability to get a job or receive help from anyone.

She said that when Elie Weisel entitled his landmark book about them "The Jews of Silence," everyone thought the title referred to the silenced Soviet Jews themselves, but in reality the Jews of Silence were the American Jews who could have brought attention to the plight of the Soviet Jews but didn't.

Rabbi Sharon urged us all not to be the Gays of Silence. The single most important thing we can do is to keep speaking about what is going on in Russia, so that the government-sponsored brutality cannot be ignored.

[suestorm]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:49pm

TRULY HORRIBLE VIDEOS those poor people. while its admirable that so many care about the gays in Russia, lets not forget our own gays here in USA.

THIS IS FROM the HUFF POST which im sure noone will question as they are very liberal...

It is dangerous for a gay or transgender person to walk down the street in any city or town in the United States of America. The anti-gay law in Russia is despicable. The harassment of transgender women in Greece is an affront to human rights. The fact that it is illegal to engage in homosexual sex in any number of countries and punishable by death in a number of Muslim nations is an abomination. But we must face the fact that in the year 2013 in the United States of America, despite or maybe in part because of the progress that we have seen in marriage equality and LGBTQ rights, gay and transgender people are targets of violence.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-joe-wenke/thats-a-man_b_3856303.html

I AGREE ONE HUNDRED PERCENT, I HOPE THIS WILL CAUSE THE OSTRICHES AMONG US TO GET THEIR HEADS OUT OF THE SAND

Updated On: 9/6/13 at 01:49 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:51pm

I'm with Rabbi Sharon.

Updated On: 9/6/13 at 01:51 PM

[suestorm]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:52pm

HUFFPOST: That's the reality for gay and transgender people in the year 2013 in the United States of America. Despite all the gains, including marriage equality, the hatred and bigotry persist, and it is dangerous for gay and transgender people to walk down the street. It is dangerous for a man to wear a pink shirt and pink shoes. It is dangerous for a transgender woman to look beautiful.

HERES HOPING WE TRULY LIVE IN A BIAS FREE SOCIETY SOMEDAY

Updated On: 9/6/13 at 01:52 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:53pm

Me too. Thanks for sharing that, PJ.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:53pm

She said that when Elie Weisel entitled his landmark book about them "The Jews of Silence," everyone thought the title referred to the silenced Soviet Jews themselves, but in reality the Jews of Silence were the American Jews who could have brought attention to the plight of the Soviet Jews but didn't.

Powerful

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 1:56pm

~ thank you PJ as usual you provide, intelligent, insightful and informative links and you're one of the true voices of reason on these boards.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 2:22pm

Sad that a country could sit idly by and allow this oppression. But it's Russia, the toilet bowl of Europe. Nothing surprises me anymore.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 2:39pm

Today's "allow" may be someday's "encourage"

[suestorm]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 2:42pm

when some troll mentions TOILET BOWL OF AMERICA in EVERY THREAD ABOUT RUSSIA, it makes me more determine than ever to STAY THE COURSE and DEFEND at EVERY TURN.

So you guys have LIARSHEADBAND to thank for my constant commenting on according to the HUFFPOST how Russia and USA are unfitly a lot alike in their treatment of gay.

Updated On: 9/6/13 at 02:42 PM

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 2:45pm

True that, Wyn.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 4:16pm

What Putin is after is annihilation: reducing the population of gays down to zero: by killing some, encouraging others to leave, and intimidating the rest into invisibility.

In the year 1900, there were roughly 5.5 million Jews in Russia, some of whom had been there ince the year 400 or before.

Today, there are 280,000 Jews in Russia, most of them non-practicing.

A gay Russian friend of mine (who has to be entirely closeted and assumes he will have to remain in the closet till he dies) said that he thinks Putin is using the gays as a scapegoat because the Russian people are bored with the Chechen situation. He said that when Putin realized he could no longer get the people riled up by blaming things on the Chechens, the gays were the only other group that could be vilified.

It seems very Orwellian--"there must always be an enemy!"--but it's actually deadly serious. Along the way, gay people will be beaten, bloodied, have acid poured on their heads, shot, maimed, killed--until there are no gay people left in Russia.

And then they will find another scapegoat.

It's the Russian way.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 4:17pm

But Native Americans something something

[suestorm]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 4:23pm

JOEY i hate to ruin your little thesis but

FACT: most of those russian jews either were killed, moved by the Nazis or left of their own when the Nazis invaded Russia

[tazber]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 5:32pm

I'm really glad your rabbi decided to talk about this in her sermon on Rosh Hashana PJ.

And thanks for sharing.