“I think the takeaway here is conflating individuals and governments is extremely unfair. Just because the country a person lives in has certain policies and standpoints does not mean that the citizens living there share them. Even when a country is "democratic" and ideologically governed by the people there are often great divides in opinion and policy does not reflect the views of everyone, and sometimes not even the majority. Nationality is just another group to be stereotyped. “
I usually see “country” as state, region, territory, and “nation” as people. If damnmuse was strictly referring to those who claim that every single Russian is homophobic, I apologize. But I did not understand it that way because a) I did not read “country” as only meaning “nation” and b) that view in absurd and I would have imagined not very common... but I may very well be completely mistaken about that.
I also do think the nation can be held largely responsible for the actions of their democratically elected government. And I am absolutely certain that if a new extremely homophobic legislature was put in place in my country I would be furious at the fact and among the first in line to describe my country as homophobic. My attacks would primarily be against it, not it’s critics.
But does “members of the population are not homophobic” mean “the country is not homophobic”? That would mean there isn’t a single country in the world that wouldn’t be “not homophobic”, not even those that punish homosexuality with death. I’m not comfortable with categorizing Uganda and Sweden in the same place when it comes to homophobia.
During this whole post I was talking about people – Russians and not the russian government. I didn’t say a thing about laws and arrests because people’s attitude is much more important. You live with people not with laws. Can you give me examples of «countless charges, arrests and acts of censorships», please? I’m not denying that it exists; I just want to know what you’re talking about. If it’s easier for you, send it in inbox.
Examples of the laws in effect:
Russia: First person to be convicted under anti-gay ‘propaganda’ law arrested by his own parents
First Media Outlet Fined for ‘Gay Propaganda’ in Russia
First tourists arrested for 'gay propaganda' in Russia free to go
It Begins: 4 LGBT Activists Arrested in Russia for Quoting the Olympic Charter
LGBT website founder fined under Russia's gay propaganda laws
LGBT activist found guilty of violating Russia's "gay propaganda" law
Russia: Three Gay Activists Arrested for Propaganda of Homosexuality
Gay couple arrested in Russia after expressing solidarity with Orlando shooting victims
Of course this does not include the self-censorship that is usually the worst aspect of censorship laws, where publishers, educators, etc. avoid forbidden subjects out of fear of getting charged or fired.
But even if we’re not talking about the government or the state and just the people, it still doesn’t look very good for Russia. Here are bits from a study on European attitudes on homosexuality:
“The 2008 results present Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, and Estonia among the most homophobic countries, while the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark can be found among the least homophobic ones.”
“[I]n 2012, among the 23 examined countries, there were only 2 countries ... Russia and Kosovo ... [where] the majority of respondents disagreed with the statement that gay men should be free to live their own life as they wish ...”
“With a few exceptions, including Russia, the level of social acceptance toward lesbian women and gay men in Europe has increased since 1989.”
So Russians, on average, have some of the most homophobic believes of any nations in Europe and are one of the very few that have gotten more homophobic through the last couple of decades. I feel like there’s some inexplicable prioritization going on here. I can’t imagine living in a country that has on average one of the most homophobic attitudes in Europe and is getting worse, where recent legislation is oppressing both queer people and their supporters through the government, police and any other form of legal authority, and then, when deciding to comment on this situation, choosing to attack the critics or all people, even if many of them are unfair.
