In the news...Moscow banns gay pride...California upholds ban on gay marriage.
The term ‘gay’, and we don’t mean ‘jolly’, like any other word, bears a different meaning for different people. Some think of men in flamboyant clothes dancing along to Wham! records. Some think of women with short hair and no make-up. Some envision skimpily dressed men and women dancing on top of trucks at the height of Berlin summer. Some, like myself, don’t think it is any more important than other aspects of everyday life. Some, like the Moscow government, think it’s Devil’s spawn.
May 27th is Russia’s national Anti-Homophobia Day. Well, not really national. But it sounds more important that way. And honestly, it really should be.
This year, in an attempt to get more publicity, the Gay Pride parade was scheduled to coincide with the Eurovision Song Contest on May 16th. No major news-networks paid any attention. Not because it is a well-known procedure, like it is in Germany or Canada, but because most people in Russia would rather think it does not exist. Much like cannibalism, according to one online, liberal newspaper.
Reading the online publications is truly chilling. Most of Europe bans anti-gay discrimination, by law. Of course the world wide web is a free-agent, but brutal anti-homosexual rhetoric hardly makes it into the first page of Google search results when you type in the word ‘gay parade’. Writing on the Russian Political News Agency website, one author claims that he has nothing against gays per se, but he feels that their life style has a ‘breath of hell’ in it. He also doesn’t believe in biological determination of homosexuality; young men are attracted to it because of it’s orgies, multiple sexual partners, and - hold your breath - drug-like sexual intensity. Doesn’t he sound convincing? And all the bright-coloured robes and loud parties where gay men go mad are just the result of inner degradation. Either way, you get the picture.
What really happened on Saturday afternoon is not exactly clear. The press has no clear number of protesters, or how many of those present were actually part of the parade and who’s come to beat them up. Journalists and the Moscow special forces police - OMON, seemed to outnumber the gay rights protesters by about ten to one, judging by the photographs of the event. According to various news agencies, including the New York Times and Associated Press, some 40 to 80 people were arrested, among them a dozen or so foreigners. What happened to the detainees, is not reported.
Today, the California High Court upheld the ban on gay marriage, which it allowed a year ago. People took to the streets. No one stopped them. Not because they couldn’t, but...well, who cares why. Anti-gay supporters probably could give you an interesting array of speculations. A handful of countries in the world, among them Holland and Canada, have fully equated same-sex relationships in the law statutes. The rest of the world is still trying to decide how it should feel about homosexuality. Like in the Seychelles, where sexual relations between men are considered illegal, but not between women. Why? Go figure. But can you imagine if the mayor of say, New York or London, openly described homosexuality as satanism? No, didn’t think so.
Russia’s recent campaign to establish itself as a modern, progressive nation is under way. Many of the above-mentioned critics, who befoul homosexuality, admit that Russia would be chastised for it’s old-fashioned treatment of the issue. From where I’m sitting, if Russia really wants an upgrade from the dark ages, it might want to consider, well, I don’t know...No, sorry. This is all a bit too sad for jokes.
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