I was listening to a woman who was a colleague of mine over 20 years ago on the CBC show "Q" last night. Her family is the *only* family in Russia headed by an out same sex couple. The ONLY family in Russia that is out about that. She is a journalist and an activist, and she is sending her oldest son to boarding school in the states and plans to leave with her spouse and two daughters by December, given that there is a proposed new law to remove adopted and birth children from same sex households in Russia. She talked as only somebody who has lived in Russia for 20 years as an out lesbian can.
She talked about how the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin have focussed on the target of choice, the LGBT community, so that there is a scapegoat for people to target. She absolutely is convinced that the increase in violence against LGBT people is related to these two institutions, which are intertwined in the consciousness of the general Russian public.
That's probably why you got that "religion" response.
And that's why I have been making the argument that it's a parallel situation with the right wing "Christians" and right wing politicians in this country.
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