Putin & homosexuality

[bcohen7719]

Your reactions?

 

BC

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/opinion/russias-anti-gay-crackdown.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130722&_r=0

[+ WilliamM]

My personal reaction is not to visit Moscow via Finland next spring as I planned. I liked St. Petersburg eight years ago, and regretted not seeing Moscow. So I may see more of the Balkans instead beyond Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia, countries that I like very much (especially Bosnia).

 

A global reaction: Let's see what happens as the Winter Olympics get closer. Putin seldom backs down, but if countries start pulling out of the Olympics, he may have no choice. But, the situation is horrible long range, once the Olympics are over eight/nine months from now.

[adriano46]

The topic of V. Putin's homophobia could probably fill volumes and I recall that it has been discussed here in the past (and was - maybe a decade or more ago in a freer and more open Russian society, common chat fodder). In my years of visiting Russia in the past (all during his first reign) I enjoyed some of the more open and friendly men plying their trade as escorts in and around St. Petersburg and Moscow. One such person was a member of the Presidential Guard and later I came to discover he was also working as an informant on foreigners who hired men like him (often surreptitiously filming trysts with his clients to later use as bribery). During the high point of such visits, I met two guys in particular (as well as knowing some Hungarian escorts later who also were flown in to Moscow as "entertainment") who spoke of wild orgies with the President and his inner circle of ex-KGB people. One of these men sort of "disappeared" suddenly, which did not surprise me given how he so openly bragged of his evenings with the leadership. I told him on two occasions he should be careful who he speaks to- but he laughed it off. One of the Hungarians told me of his frightful 36 hours in a villa outside Moscow (where all of the "siloviki" stay), a debauched scene of drugs, alcohol and often unprotected sex that scared him almost completely out of escorting (and he has since retired). To this, do a scan of the guests of Vladimir Vladimirovich's summer vacation buddies, the guys (only men) he invites to accompany him on his Siberian summer jaunts - you know, the ones where he is often shown riding bare-chested across the steppes! Now tell me.... do you think there may be a hint of extreme homophobia due to some sort of closeted self-loathing???? Hmmmm Well, I stopped going to Russia years ago - sad too as it has some of the most handsome men (and women) in the world.

[Jaker27]

I'll avoid any Russian Vodka.

[adriano46]

Jaker27 -- that is too high a price for me.... nothing compares to in ice cold bottle of RUSSKIE STANDARD!

[bigvalboy]

I'll avoid any Russian Vodka.

 

OK...everyone calm down, no need to over react.

[rvwnsd]

Jaker27 -- that is too high a price for me.... nothing compares to in ice cold bottle of RUSSKIE STANDARD!

 

Polish vodka kicks Russian vodka's ass.

[Jscott]

Polish vodka kicks Russian vodka's ass.

 

I've long touted Wyborowa as a good cheap vodka (Chopin ain't bad either), but I have to admit that Russian Standard is the standard for the really good inexpensive stuff. (Though I really love the ridiculously pricey Ciroc).

 

As for Russian vs Polish men, well, I'm a slobbering slathering slave to most Slavs.

[+ WilliamM]

Your reactions?

 

BC

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/opinion/russias-anti-gay-crackdown.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130722&_r=0

 

Somehow I missed Harvey Fierstein's name as the author when I read the article this morning. Good for him. The Winter Olympics start in February. Time for protests, if they are organized soon, starting with the U.S.

 

I agree with adriano46 about the extreme homophobia due to some sort of closeted self-loathing in Russia. There was a lot of information (all second-hand, or am I wrong?) in his one very long paragraph. Unlike adroano46, I would consider strongly returning to St. Petersburg, because I know the city well and people who live there. But, it would be during the White Nights in June when St. Petersburg attracts the most tourists --- when Putin would have the least control...although that did not stop Stalin.

[Jscott]

Sadly, whether it's the U.S. of A. or Russia, politicians will beat the dead horse of good ole-fashioned heter-ow-sekshual family values to terrify the otherwise ignorant and distract them from failing policies by providing a scapegoat. But legislating bigotry is, as Fierstein and others on this forum point out, taking it too far. Unfortunately, it would take the arrest of a few tourists to provoke a sufficient outcry. If they're American, so much the better because then our country will do one of the things it does best, marshal a media storm.

 

But unfortunately, as another thread on the torture and murder of a LGBT activist in Cameroon attests, Russia is but one of many benighted countries across the globe.