Situation Worsens in Russia

[Insult to Rocks]

[youtube:5w32yeex]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMTbFSJ_Tr4[/youtube:5w32yeex] (Fixed because I forgot that most of us are mature adults,or at least adults)

With just days left until the start on Friday of the Sochi Winter Olympics, Human Rights Watch released a video on Tuesday that highlights the disturbing violence and discrimination that gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people face in Russia.

In a statement accompanying the footage, Human Rights Watch urged the Russian authorities to address the "deteriorating situation" of abuse against LGBT people and activists, saying that a failure to act has exposed them to further harassment and violence and has emboldened attackers.

"By turning a blind eye to hateful homophobic rhetoric and violence, Russian authorities are sending a dangerous message as the world is about to arrive on its doorstep for the Olympics that there is nothing wrong with attacks on gay people," said Tanya Cooper, Russia researcher at Human Rights Watch.


The video is a feature compiled by the rights group to show the attacks that are organized on LGBT people in Russia. The attacks are  posted online, mostly by vigilante groups, to humiliate their victims and as propaganda.

The rights group's statement on Tuesday said, in part:


LGBT people face stigma, harassment and violence in their everyday lives in Russia, and LGBT victims of violence and groups told Human Rights Watch that these problems intensified in 2013. Victims in cities including Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk told Human Rights Watch they were attacked in public places, abducted, beaten, harassed, threatened and psychologically abused. They told Human Rights Watch that they were afraid to go to the police to report violence, fearing further harassment and believing the police would not bother to pursue their attackers. When victims did lodge complaints with the police, few investigations followed.

Stuart Elliott of The Times reported last month that activists have been trying to hijack promotions by sponsors of the Sochi Olympics in protest over LGBT discrimination in Russia, particularly a federal law that bans "homosexual propaganda."

Last Friday, 40 leading human rights and LGBT groups added their voices to a new protest in the form of a joint letter that urged corporate sponsors to take action to halt "the rising tide of discrimination, harassment and threats" against LGBT people.

It urged them to speak out against Russia's "propaganda" law and to ask the International Olympic Committee to make reforms to monitor and prevent human rights abuses in future host countries.

Andrew Roth reported last month, the law, signed by President Vladimir V. Putin in June, authorizes arrests and fines for those who spread "propaganda of nontraditional sexual orientations" among minors, a legal term that critics have called vague and that relies on Russian prosecutors and judges for interpretation.

A video in October offered a view of what that law looks like in action.

Ahead of the Olympics, Mr. Putin has sought to head off the simmering controversy. On Jan. 17, he said visitors to Sochi, including gay men and lesbians, could be "relaxed and calm."

"But please, leave the children alone," he added.

Article://http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/rights-group-releases-video-of-lgbt-attacks-in-russia/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
I knew it was bad there but, this is just despicable.
Edit: Homosexuals aren't the only ones being mistereated either. Political activists in general seem to be under heavy fire, for "secruities sake"://http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/world/europe/russia-blocks-several-activists-from-olympics-even-as-spectators.html

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Sadly that's not really a worsening of the situation, but rather a compilation of what's been happening. They've been doing this shit for months now, but the IOC continues to go "lol what human rights abuses we aren't political derp". I'm hoping these Olympics fail, big time. Not from terrorist attacks mind you, though one is likely because Sochi is in a bad location for that, but for reasons like there being no fucking snow there and such.

[Shiranu]

Human rights abuses, terrorist threats and the facilities are still not finished... yellow water, 97% of the Olympians (estimated by IOC) hotels are not fully furnished and a whole slew of other issues...

Russia... you even trying, bro?

[AllPurposeAtheist]

The comments are disturbing as the video is. I hope Sochi is hit with a heat wave and terrorism not to hurt spectators so much as state security apparatus, the bullshit "ring of steel" particularly.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Human rights abuses, terrorist threats and the facilities are still not finished... yellow water, 97% of the Olympians (estimated by IOC) hotels are not fully furnished and a whole slew of other issues...

Russia... you even trying, bro?

It's Russia, do you even have to ask?

The people there have been fucked over one way or another for centuries. There were the czars, then the communists, and now this Putin bastard. Scapegoating the gays is just another way to hold power. Why fight against the corrupt as hell government when you can beat the piss outta some sissy fags without any repercussions?

[stromboli]

Right, an old rule of thumb for dictators is to direct the hatred and the energies of the people away from what is actually happening to other "enemies" like LGBTs.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Guess who exported homophobia, anti abortion and the sudden hardline orthodox church stance to Russia.. Yup, American evangelicals.. It's a huge success for them.  

Sick fucks.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Guess who exported homophobia, anti abortion and the sudden hardline orthodox church stance to Russia.. Yup, American evangelicals.. It's a huge success for them.  

Sick fucks.

And gays are just the newest easy target for despots to exploit. If this was happening 70 years ago it would have been Jews. The first step is to find out what groups your people already have prejudice against; the next step is to exploit that by demonizing those groups. Thus to the Russian government and the American evangelists gays are a "threat to children". I can only expect the hate crimes to continue to get worse and worse. Several have already died because of this.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

So the summer Olympics is going to be held in a Siberian gulag?

[StupidWiz]

How and why did they approve of holding Olympics there? I can never understand...  :(

[hillbillyatheist]

this is beyond sick. those thugs should be lined up and shot.

anybody that gets a kick out of beating up innocent people and doing such horrendous crimes such as forcing people to rape themselves with glass bottles, doesn't deserve to live.

[Hydra009]

How and why did they approve of holding Olympics there? I can never understand...  :(

//http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bids_for_the_2014_Winter_Olympics

Or was that rhetorical?

[Shiranu]

How and why did they approve of holding Olympics there? I can never understand...  :(

To be fair to the IOC, these laws came into effect only recently. Not to say that gay rights abuses weren't going on before then, but it's only the last couple of years that it became a huge deal.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

How and why did they approve of holding Olympics there? I can never understand...  :(

Money.