It’s been a problem in Russia that surpassed the last couple of years or so. There’s a danger that the LGBT community faces just living in Russia on a day-to-day basis. 2013 marked the year where it really got out of hand. When Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a bill that outlawed “Homosexual Propaganda”, that regressive act put the LGBT in a position that seemed to threaten their well being. The bill in a nutshell, was to ‘prevent the idea/promotion of homosexuality towards youth and adults.’

• It became illegal for gays to host public events, and they’d receive a fine of around $16,000.
• Pride parades were banned.
• No same-sex couples from any part of the world would be allowed to adopt Russian orphans.
• Those that were recognized as LGBT would be beaten or tortured, sometimes killed. (That’s not part of the law, it’s just something that started happening.)

It’s obviously unrealistic to treat people who just want to be happy with themselves, poorly. Painting something as if they have an agenda to push, is almost scapegoating on Putin’s part. Perhaps the divorce with his wife over the summer that he might be in a state bitterness and insecurity.

Some gays that felt their lives were in far too much danger, started looking for home in different countries. As was one man’s story when he came looking for refuge in Vancouver. Though I have a feeling it’s probably not just gays that were tired of living there, an impression I got by the sudden Russian community that now lives in my area.

So now, There’s a lot of pressure within Russia because of all of this. The Sochi Winter Olympics is just around the corner. The LGBT of the rest of the world are on a fair enough ground to boycott the event, so the protests erupted. Some, absurdly taking the stance of dumping out Russian Vodka onto the street, others mostly just urging not to go.

It was an ongoing debate for some time. Should we support it or not. Obviously on principle, no. Russia’s damming of gays should have a repercussion of some kind. It’s just the times we live in, that’s unnacceptable. But in Retrospect, it’s a much stronger stance to go to the Olympics and be proud of who you are. The Olympic committee shouldn’t let the homo-fearing agenda affect the two week long celebration of sport.

At any given opportunity, the events always paint Putin as if he’s nothing but a tyrant. With the bill in place, Russia behaves as if they’re allowed to do anything they want, to the LGBT community. Try as they might, gays seem to have less of a voice in their own country with each passing day.

Homophobia is a word I never like to use, but it’s definitely an idea they’re imposing onto the lives of their people:

With the Russian war on gays, it begs the question of just how the events will pan out at the winter olympics. Will shady dealings towards gay athletes take place? (ie. accusations, manipulated scores, unruly behavior from Russian competitors.) What about events that may unfold outside of the arena? With this year coming to a close, all eyes will be on Sochi. It’s up to Russia if they want to be on their best behaviour.

On the other hand… General knowledge has taught me that Putin, therefore the country, is full of too many secrets.
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In recent events President Obama joins political boycott of Winter Olympics,
A timeline of events that only go as far as July 28th 2013,
and also something Worth Reading:[VICE] An interview with a gay, Russian Neo-Nazi