Racism, homophobic laws and a rant thrown in for good measure

baby and crumble

So, we've heard a lot about Russia these last few months. People boycotting Russian produce, boycotting the Olympics, all that.

The recent announcement of the reinstatement of laws in India which make homosexual activity illegal was met with a bit of bluster, but about 1 week later and that has died down.

Now, Uganda has passed a law which again criminalises homosexual activity which can lead to life imprisonment.

I'm just wondering- do we, as a predominately white, middle class country (and society) of the west care more about Russia's laws (which, while awful, don't actually criminalise being gay in and of itself) because they too are a predominately white, increasingly middle class country of the west?

Last week I was at the Gloria concert for Christmas- lovely evening, btw. But at one point a song was dedicated to all those in Russia. I think it was two days after India passed it's law, and no mention of them or any other country (of which there are many) in which gay and trans folk could be killed or jailed.

Makes me wonder anyway.

Ten of Swords

baby and crumble wrote: »

I'm just wondering- do we, as a predominately white, middle class country (and society) of the west care more about Russia's laws (which, while awful, don't actually criminalise being gay in and of itself) because they too are a predominately white, increasingly middle class country of the west?

Makes me wonder anyway.

I suppose you can't rule it out as a possibility but I think it's more likely that people care more about the situation in Russia is because of the videos of young men, and in particular vulnerable teenagers, being tormented and bullied by so called hunting packs.

I agree that there are far worse things happening to LGBT people in other countries but hearing about it doesn't have the same emotional resonance as watching it. And there are so many of those videos out there with more made every day. Poor guys.

Or I could be way off, that's my 2c

Annasopra

baby and crumble wrote: »

So, we've heard a lot about Russia these last few months. People boycotting Russian produce, boycotting the Olympics, all that.

The recent announcement of the reinstatement of laws in India which make homosexual activity illegal was met with a bit of bluster, but about 1 week later and that has died down.

Now, Uganda has passed a law which again criminalises homosexual activity which can lead to life imprisonment.

I'm just wondering- do we, as a predominately white, middle class country (and society) of the west care more about Russia's laws (which, while awful, don't actually criminalise being gay in and of itself) because they too are a predominately white, increasingly middle class country of the west?

Last week I was at the Gloria concert for Christmas- lovely evening, btw. But at one point a song was dedicated to all those in Russia. I think it was two days after India passed it's law, and no mention of them or any other country (of which there are many) in which gay and trans folk could be killed or jailed.

Makes me wonder anyway.

Interesting question - I heard that America is giving record number of lgbt Russians asylum but that African lgbt asylum seekers numbers have not increased (I don't know how true this is though)

It's odd how the situation in Russia really exercised so many voices of people here in Ireland - I think in a way that part of it is because the marriage equality campaigns politicised a generation that was in a way quite apolitical

LegacyUser

From what I gather the situation in India is really more of a legal issue. A court decided that the constitution or existing laws outlawed homosexual activity and that the government had to legislate. The government basically doesn't want this problem so aren't doing anything but have made noises that they intend to legislate. I'm not sure if people in India are being arrested or like in ireland it's not being enforced. In Russia the situation is much more severe as the government is actively targeting lgbt people

Ambersky

I'm just wondering- do we, as a predominately white, middle class country (and society) of the west care more about Russia's laws (which, while awful, don't actually criminalise being gay in and of itself) because they too are a predominately white, increasingly middle class country of the west

Yes I think thats it in a nut shell baby and crumble.
I was thinking myself of reasons why this might be so and the first thing that came to mind is that maybe people care more about those who are physically close to them. So I had a look at a map of the world and there didnt seem to be much difference in the distances between the closest parts of Russia to Ireland and the closest parts of Africa to Ireland.
Thinking about those videos we have seen of homophobic violence in Russia I was wondering if our concern about homophobia in Russia is because it is a recent phenomena and there are videos on YouTube about it. So I looked for recent videos on YouTube on homophobic violence in Africa and actually the first video I found I wasnt able to continue watching it I found it so upsetting.
I dont suppose it would be too difficult to find more videos on homophobic violence from various parts of the world if I had the emotional strength for it right now. The videos I have seen so far seem so raw and difficult to watch. So it would seem we are selective for some reason about which videos get our attention.

The thinking that makes most sense to me about this issue is that we as humans empathise more quickly and readily with those we think of as similar to ourselves. We kind of think if it is happening to them and they are like us well then maybe it could happen to us too and that is threatening our personal survival and we get upset about that. I dont think there is anything wrong with that feeling empathy in my opinion is something that need encouragement wherever it is found. But the idea or perhaps fact that we as a society as a community and even as individuals do not see others from outside of Europe as sufficiently like us to empathise with them as much as we do other Europeans is indeed worth looking at.

Stephen Fry had a go at looking at homophobia around the world by going to some of the most homophobia areas of the world to speak to both the advocates of homophobia and the survivors of homophobia which may help people see both what is happening around the world as well as our similar struggles and interests . Maybe you are already familiar with the series but if you are interested they are available on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAPfPVD8pRE

renraw

Lads, it doesn't take being from Russia or whatever country we see as being just crazy! human rights are lacking, never mind gay rights.! In fairness, I, like so many, will not be taking any crazy trips to Russia. Human rights are only, and mostly, dictated by "some" people! In fairness guys, most of the planet, does not live in the ideal part of existence as we do here ..... What if we did? would everybody treat everybody like we should?

Ireland, 1992? where were we? granted, not as violent as some nations but...>>>...we've moved on!

Annasopra

renraw wrote: »

Lads, it doesn't take being from Russia or whatever country we see as being just crazy! human rights are lacking, never mind gay rights.! In fairness, I, like so many, will not be taking any crazy trips to Russia. Human rights are only, and mostly, dictated by "some" people! In fairness guys, most of the planet, does not live in the ideal part of existence as we do here ..... What if we did? would everybody treat everybody like we should?

Ireland, 1992? where were we? granted, not as violent as some nations but...>>>...we've moved on!

I prefer to look at it more optimistically than human rights being dictated by some

We didn't move on from 1992 in Ireland without people fighting for those changes

Look at Apartheid - Ireland was incredibly important in that human rights struggle