Russia's Growing Pains

While the United States does not yet wholly support gay rights, with plenty of vocal and downright viscous opposition from extremely conservative minorities, the United States has come a long way in the past thirty years.

Despite criticism from other, more liberal western countries the size of Michigan, the United States will always struggle with tolerance being the diverse grab bag of opinionated nonsense that our people tend to be.
 
It's easy criticism, and easy to overlook the fact that legalization of gay marriage in any European country isn't comparable to our inevitable legalization of the same. The fact that 17 American states will marry same sex couples, and our federal government recognizes it as well, is a feat unlike any other.

We're the world's biggest melting pot of nut jobs, or more sympathetically, cultural diversity. Getting just one state to agree to legalize something that prompted parental discretion disclaimers in 1990 is an unparalleled accomplishment.

As each American state decides whether to legalize or outlaw gay marriage based on its government's interpretation of the Constitution, some European nations have legalized gay marriage despite overwhelming opposition.

Each state may not recognize gay marriage, but it says more that over half of our citizens support gay marriage than it does that France nationally legalized gay marriage despite the fact that almost 30% of its citizens say they wouldn't even want to live next door to a gay couple.

Of course I'm certainly not saying that the legalization of gay marriage in France is a bad thing, just as it won't be bad when the feds finally step in and force our lingering Hate States to do the same. Minorities need to be protected for the very fact that they're minorities. They'll always be enough bigots hiding in pockets of any country to vote away their neighbors' rights.

The United States is starting to look a little less like we're late to the party and a little more like just another big gay fruit basket. 

However Russia, once on the verge of becoming a major ally after a very long war is quickly distancing itself from the western culture its citizens briefly and radically embraced. Maybe they wouldn't be so cranky if they hadn't kicked off democracy by opening a McDonald's.

Russia is working on a slew of barbaric laws criminalizing homosexual "propaganda," bills expected to pass in the upper houses and signed into law by President Vladamir Putin. Although Russia decriminalized homosexuality shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the new bill will criminalize anyone promoting a lifestyle not conducive to procreation.

This is stirring up emotions in Russia's increasingly "out" population, but also sparking concern among Olympians set to perform in the 2014 Winter Games to be held in Sochi, Russia. The new laws will allow the government to arrest and detain foreigners they perceive to be promoting a homosexual lifestyle, and in the wake of public "It Gets Better" videos, Olympic coming out stories, and supportive friends and family, advocates that have made their opinion public on YouTube are understandably queasy about heading to Russia in six months.

It's also concerning that Russia's track record in the Olympics can be most politely described as "nationalistic," while many might call the country's sportsmanship downright poor. I'm not suggesting that Russia would detain any Olympians on the grounds of their sexuality to give their own athletes leg up, but I wouldn't put their Olympic officials above harassment or intimidation either.

Among other laws that Russia has proposed to discourage homosexuality, Russia will also be prohibiting the adoption of Russian children in any country that recognizes gay marriage, even if that child would be going to a straight couple in an American state that doesn't recognize gay marriage.

Of course all this might be perfectly timed to united Americans, even conservatives, against a common enemy of tolerance. After all, a lot of Americans opposed to gay marriage don't want to be on the side of outright bigotry. These archaic laws being handed down by a country many Americans once viewed as a rather reasonable peer might just show a lot of conservative Americans just how petty they're being.

It's just unfortunate that after thirty years of democracy, many Russians seem fed up with trying to accept opinions that they'd rather see subjugated behind an Iron Curtain.

It's sad, but I guess not so surprising. The nation shuttered its people from the world for about forty years. They dove into a capitalistic democracy headfirst with a midcentury understanding of what it meant. They were expecting I Love Lucy and got Will & Grace.

Getting many Russians to tolerate the 21st Century is like asking Grover Cleveland to pull up his Netflix queue on an iPad.

Half of them are cynical Ayn Rands who view anything counter productive as waste, like homosexuality. The other half have been squashed by the upper class and blame their poverty on western influences, like homosexuality. While the few in the middle, those who actually explored the world with an open mind, are trapped in the middle.

West Hollywood nightclubs are boycotting Russian vodka to protest these laws, but it might not end at the bar. Is a national Olympic boycott unrealistic? Keep in mind, the last time Russia hosted the Olympic Games in 1980, twenty nine countries competed in the American-led Olympic Boycott Games, or Liberty Bell Classic, in Philadelphia.