In Russia, it's essentially against the law to hurt religious people's feelings.
Russia's parliament passed a bill to protect religious believers’
feelings this summer. Its passage means a person can go to prison for up
to three years for “public actions expressing open disrespect for
society and committed in an effort to offense the religious feelings of
believers.”
It will probably go down in history as the “Pussy Riot Law” since the
Orthodox Church declared it was necessary after the band's high-profile
court case. Still, the government managed to put those girls in prison
without it.
It’s likely not a coincidence that President Vladimir Putin signed
into law an antigay bill punishing people for homosexual “propaganda” on
the exact same day the Pussy Riot Law passed. Now we can see how these
two laws work together.
The Moscow department of regional security has warned LGBT rights
activists planning a rally that they could be arrested for “promoting
nontraditional sexual relations to minors.” The planned rally’s
location, in a square near the Church of Christ the Savior (now famous
as “Pussy Riot Church”), according to an official letter, “could provoke
unlawful actions from people who do not share the views of its
participants.”
It is reasonable to expect that in any city, especially such a big
and multicultural one like Moscow, there are people who do not share the
same views. There are thousands of nationalists unhappy about Muslims
conducting their religious ceremonies; there are thousands of atheists
angry about the blocking of roads for yet another Orthodox procession.
There are communists, liberals, patriots, Russians, Jews, Caucasians,
and many other people who sometimes hate each other. And there are the
police, whose are responsible for protecting everybody’s right to
express his or her views in a nonviolent way.
But the police refused to do that job for everyone. They do not want
to protect LGBT activists from possible threats. The actual meaning of
that official letter is this: You cannot protest. Not because your
action is unlawful, but because you might provoke unlawful actions from
other people.
Why not punish the people who attack peaceful rallies? The
authorities made it clear — it's because they are a social base for
President Putin. Constitutionally, there is no state ideology in Russia.
But in 2013, when we’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Russian
constitution, that’s not the reality on the ground.
“Throughout the entire history of Christianity, the Orthodox church
has recognized the traditional family, while homosexual relations have
been interpreted by Christianity as a sin,” the letter said.
“Traditions” and “traditional” are the most popular words among Russian
officials now. Nobody explains what is traditional, though it’s
essential because soon they are going to punish people for
“nontraditional relationships.” A new bill, already published on the
State Duma website, would make the “fact of nontraditional sexual
orientation” a basis to deny parents’ custody of their children (other
grounds include alcoholism, drug use, and abuse).
People are beginning to realize that antigay hysteria negatively
affects even heterosexual people. And I’m not even talking about me and
my friends who have been attacked for “looking gay” lately. At least we
are fairly involved in human right activism.
I’m talking about people who are not at all involved in the activist
front. Last week a man accused his straight ex-wife of having sexual
relations with her roommate, another unwed woman, so she would lose
custody of their child.
These pieces of legislation are expressly aimed silencing people
whose views don’t align with those held by favored constituencies. The
easiest thing for people on the fence or those who passively disagree is
to stay silent. But caving to that pressure will lead us to a day when
there’s no one left to speak up for us.
VERA KICHANOVA is a Young Voices Advocate. She is an elected local council deputy in Moscow. She works for Slon.ru as a journalist and has been published by The New York Times
and Der Spiegel.
Vera won the 2013 Democracy Award.
Sometimes, instead of carrying a copy of the Constitution around in
your pocket it would be smart to read it. And Ted Cruz would do well to
read Article 1, Section 5. It reads in part:
You have to read this to believe it. Shmuley Boteach and his new billionaire pal, Sheldon Adelson, recently 
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