{"id":172,"date":"2011-11-24T01:50:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-24T01:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/24\/anti-lgbt-scapegoating-why-99-should\/"},"modified":"2015-06-19T00:23:20","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T23:23:20","slug":"anti-lgbt-scapegoating-why-99-should","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/24\/anti-lgbt-scapegoating-why-99-should\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-LGBT Scapegoating: Why the 99% Should Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Petersberg, Russia is on the verge of becoming the third local legislature in Russia to criminalise \u201cpropaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism, to minors.\u201d (Gray<\/a>, Wikipedia<\/a>) Activists, such as Polina Savchenko, General manager of LGBT organization Coming Out, point out that \u201cOrganizers of public events cannot restrict access of minors to any open area; people under 18 can be there just by chance. Consequently, it makes any public campaigns aimed at reducing xenophobia and hate crime prevention\u00a0impossible.\u201d (Gray<\/a>)
\nWhy are they doing this? Andre Banks of AllOut.org says, \u201cthe beleaguered LGBT community in Russia . . . are being used as a political punching bag in the run up to elections.\u201d (ibid<\/a>) The ruling party, \u201cUnited Russia faces a crisis of popularity . . .. A Levada Centre poll released on Tuesday showed that 51% of respondents planned to vote for United Russia \u2013 down from 60% just one week before.\u201d (Elder<\/a>) So they try to boost their ratings by attacking LGBT people.
\nThis is when they are not stealing elections outright. When describing their 2007 victory, \u201cthe German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that ‘measured by our standards, it was neither a free, fair nor democratic election.’\u201d (The Economist<\/a>) That election featured \u201cthe entire machinery of the authoritarian state\u2014including courts, prosecutors, media and security agencies.\u201d (ibid<\/a>) This meant that \u201clarge lorries with military and riot police surrounded Moscow’s main squares.\u201d (ibid<\/a>)
\nAn authoritarian state which uses police powers to maintain control is not on the side of the 99%. Using vulnerable minorities as scapegoats to maintain power is also undemocratic. By linking LGBT people with paedophilia, the ruling party is effectively inciting violence against LGBT people. State violence is not on the side of the 99%, whether it’s carried out directly by a cop holding a canister of pepper spray, or by a vigilante, egged on to violence by agents of the 1% trying to hang on to power.
\nThe 99% includes LGBT people. If we are standing together in solidarity with the 99% of OWS and the 99% of Tahir, we should also stand with the 99% of Russia. Already, the international outcry against this unjust law is causing St Petersberg’s legislators to pause. The Pink Paper reports that, \u201cSt Petersburg lawmakers are reportedly reconsidering the provisions of a ‘gay propaganda’ law.\u201d (Gray<\/a>) Now is the time to act, as, \u201caccording to Federation Council of Russia speaker Valentina Matviyenko such ban on ‘propaganda of homosexualism’ might also be adopted on federal level.\u201d (Wikipedia<\/a>) We can stop this now before it gets worse.
\nOccupy homophobia! We are the 99%<\/p>\n

How to Help<\/h4>\n

Sign the Petition<\/a>
\nIf you are near London, come to the protest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/h4>\n

Elder, Miriam. \u201cPutin’s United Russia party criticised for suggestive election advert.\u201d The Guardian.<\/i> 9 November 2011. Web. Assessed 23 November 2011. <http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/2011\/nov\/09\/putin-united-russia-party-advert><\/p>\n

Gray, Stephen. \u201cOutcry prompts St Petersburg legislature to reconsider ‘gay propaganda’ law.\u201d The Pink Paper.<\/i> 23 November 2011. Web. Assessed 24 November 2011. <http:\/\/www.pinknews.co.uk\/2011\/11\/23\/outcry-prompts-st-petersburg-legislature-to-reconsider-gay-propaganda-law\/><\/p>\n

\u201cLGBT Rights in Russia.\u201d Wikipedia.<\/i> Web. Assessed 24 November 2011. <https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/LGBT_rights_in_Russia><\/p>\n

\u201cThe secret policeman’s election.\u201d The Economist.<\/i> 6 December 2011. Web. Assessed 24 November 2011. <http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/10268185><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Petersberg, Russia is on the verge of becoming the third local legislature in Russia to criminalise \u201cpropaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism, to minors.\u201d (Gray, Wikipedia) Activists, such as Polina Savchenko, General manager of LGBT organization Coming Out, point out that \u201cOrganizers of public events cannot restrict access of minors to any open … Continue reading Anti-LGBT Scapegoating: Why the 99% Should Care<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[116,14,117],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-116","tag-lgbt","tag-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2371,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions\/2371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}