Oh those Russians.
On the same day that headlines around the world are screaming "Pope: Who Am I to Judge Gay People?" and Twitter is absolutely lit up with tweets about his comments, news out of Russia just gets more and more dismal for the LGBTQ community there, and it's all coming to a head.
First of all, the Pope's word should be encouraging, and they are, but if you read behind the headline, what he is talking about is allowing openly gay men to be priests in the Catholic Church. While a step in the right direction, it's hardly a ringing endorsement of accepting the LGBTQ community, and the idea is that priests, gay or straight, are supposed to be abstaining from sex, and therefore it wouldn't matter if they were gay or straight, because it's not like they get to act on their sexual orientation. But still, I'll take it as positive, I guess.
And I need positive, because it's been a maddening week, with Vladimir Putin signing into law a bill in Russia that criminalizes public expression of support for LGBTQ relationships. Those fuckhead Russian lawmakers were eager to point out that the law doesn't criminalize homosexuality itself, just talking about it in front of kids, but then the news broke that now, the Russians are working on legislation that would remove children from the home if either the parent or the child is, or is even just suspected of being, LGBTQ. So, again, it wouldn't outlaw homosexuality, it would just...what? Punish it in one of the most inhumane ways possible by tearing apart a loving family for no good reason? Yeah. That.
It's unclear what impact all of this will have on the Sochi Olympics in 2014, but already, there are calls from the internet for boycotts, and a lot of questions about what the law means for LGBTQ athletes, coaches, friends, families and their supporters who will be in Sochi. Unless something is worked out, this will be a monumental clusterfuck.
Acceptance...
...Wish you were here.
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