No discrimination of LGBT community in Russia
Published Sep 20, 2019 12:10 am
LETTER TO EDITOR
By NATALIA LINOVITSKAYA
Press Attaché
NATALIA LINOVITSKAYA
Press Attaché Last week I came across a column titled “Preaching discrimination” published in the Manila Bulletin of September 7, 2019, by Mr. Tonyo Cruz. 1 have to say that I was unpleasantly surprised by the author’s irresponsible approach. He bluntly states that in all countries where strong religious organizations cooperate with governments, there is “massive, brutal systematic and inhuman treatment of LGBT,” giving Russia and its Orthodox Christian Church as an example, without even trying to provide as much as a shred of evidence to support his outrageous allegations. I would like to ask for your kind assistance in clearing this up. Let us start with the simple fact that Russia is a member of all the major international human rights charters and conventions. Our national legislation has been brought in full compliance with our international obligations involving protecting human rights and combating discrimination. Russia has been a multiethnic and multireligious society for most of its more than thousand year long history. We have representatives of various well-established religious denominations, including Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists who have high appreciation for traditional family values and believe that every child deserves to have a mother and a father instead of “Parent No. 1” and “Parent No. 2.” These are the core values of our society which are an integral part of our national identity. We are not forcing other nations to follow them, but we don’t need them to lecture us on how to live our lives. Therefore, it is logical that Russia is not among the countries to allow gay marriages or the adoption of orphans by homosexual couples. But at least for now, most countries of the world, including some EU member-states, share the same attitude to these issues. Is this what the author describes as “brutal and inhuman treatment”? Moreover, there is not one single international human rights treaty that would obligate its members to do that. In fact, such terms as “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are not even mentioned in the treaties. Despite all that, we believe that sexual orientation is a matter of choice for every single person and it may not be forced on anyone. This is why on June 30, 2013, we adopted the only legislative act which prohibits propaganda of homosexuality among minors, namely “Federal Law for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for Denial of Traditional Family Values” which is still completely in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children. This allows the younger generation to make the relevant choice after they reach the age of 18 without any prior influence. Next, contrary to what the author of the article suggests, the LGBTs are neither criminalized in Russia nor has it ever been proposed to criminalize them. Homosexuality was once considered a crime in the USSR, but that law was abolished three decades ago. Despite all the efforts of cheap Western propaganda to portray Russia as one of the most homophobic countries in the world, there is no discrimination of the LGBT community in my country. The fact is, that Russia is a meritocracy. People are recognized for what they have achieved, regardless of their race, color, sex, language religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status and their sexual orientation. There are many highly successful members of the LGBT community in Russia. They have made great accomplishments in such spheres as art, science, and business. Some of them hold government postings. There are also those who have received state awards. The author of the article also mentioned “Fundamentalist Christians” who are supposed to be joining efforts with the Russian Orthodox Church to make the existence of the LGBT community unbearable. To tell you the truth, being a Christian myself, I have never heard of such a denomination. At least not in Russia. Despite the fact that most of the population of Russia are Orthodox Christians, we have a unique experience of peaceful coexistence of various ethnic and religious communities, none of which have ever called for violence or persecution or discrimination of their countrymen and certainly don’t “preach discrimination” no matter what kind of relationship they have with the Russian government. I hope you will publish this letter to give your readers an undistorted picture of what is going on in Russia…. The Embassy of Russia will gladly assist any journalist who would like to find reliable information about our country.
NATALIA LINOVITSKAYAPress Attaché Last week I came across a column titled “Preaching discrimination” published in the Manila Bulletin of September 7, 2019, by Mr. Tonyo Cruz. 1 have to say that I was unpleasantly surprised by the author’s irresponsible approach. He bluntly states that in all countries where strong religious organizations cooperate with governments, there is “massive, brutal systematic and inhuman treatment of LGBT,” giving Russia and its Orthodox Christian Church as an example, without even trying to provide as much as a shred of evidence to support his outrageous allegations. I would like to ask for your kind assistance in clearing this up. Let us start with the simple fact that Russia is a member of all the major international human rights charters and conventions. Our national legislation has been brought in full compliance with our international obligations involving protecting human rights and combating discrimination. Russia has been a multiethnic and multireligious society for most of its more than thousand year long history. We have representatives of various well-established religious denominations, including Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists who have high appreciation for traditional family values and believe that every child deserves to have a mother and a father instead of “Parent No. 1” and “Parent No. 2.” These are the core values of our society which are an integral part of our national identity. We are not forcing other nations to follow them, but we don’t need them to lecture us on how to live our lives. Therefore, it is logical that Russia is not among the countries to allow gay marriages or the adoption of orphans by homosexual couples. But at least for now, most countries of the world, including some EU member-states, share the same attitude to these issues. Is this what the author describes as “brutal and inhuman treatment”? Moreover, there is not one single international human rights treaty that would obligate its members to do that. In fact, such terms as “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are not even mentioned in the treaties. Despite all that, we believe that sexual orientation is a matter of choice for every single person and it may not be forced on anyone. This is why on June 30, 2013, we adopted the only legislative act which prohibits propaganda of homosexuality among minors, namely “Federal Law for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for Denial of Traditional Family Values” which is still completely in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children. This allows the younger generation to make the relevant choice after they reach the age of 18 without any prior influence. Next, contrary to what the author of the article suggests, the LGBTs are neither criminalized in Russia nor has it ever been proposed to criminalize them. Homosexuality was once considered a crime in the USSR, but that law was abolished three decades ago. Despite all the efforts of cheap Western propaganda to portray Russia as one of the most homophobic countries in the world, there is no discrimination of the LGBT community in my country. The fact is, that Russia is a meritocracy. People are recognized for what they have achieved, regardless of their race, color, sex, language religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status and their sexual orientation. There are many highly successful members of the LGBT community in Russia. They have made great accomplishments in such spheres as art, science, and business. Some of them hold government postings. There are also those who have received state awards. The author of the article also mentioned “Fundamentalist Christians” who are supposed to be joining efforts with the Russian Orthodox Church to make the existence of the LGBT community unbearable. To tell you the truth, being a Christian myself, I have never heard of such a denomination. At least not in Russia. Despite the fact that most of the population of Russia are Orthodox Christians, we have a unique experience of peaceful coexistence of various ethnic and religious communities, none of which have ever called for violence or persecution or discrimination of their countrymen and certainly don’t “preach discrimination” no matter what kind of relationship they have with the Russian government. I hope you will publish this letter to give your readers an undistorted picture of what is going on in Russia…. The Embassy of Russia will gladly assist any journalist who would like to find reliable information about our country.