Homophobia in Russia

If someone says bullying this is probably what you think of, but that's not what I am writing about today.

In Russia at the moment there is a big argument in Russia second biggest city - Saint Petersburg. This following story has been going on for a while now. The equality group AllOut has recently released this letter from a man called Sergie who has recently been arrested in the city.

My name is Sergey and I'm an attorney in Russia. I'm straight - happily married for 16 years - and until last week I would not have been called an "activist".   But in just five days I will got to court, fined and maybe even thrown in jail because I held up a banner in Saint Petersburg and told the truth: “A dear family friend is lesbian. My wife and I love and respect her … and her family is just as equal as ours." 

I was among the first to be arrested, but thousands more could follow.  As I write this, Russian officials are fast tracking a plan to extend Saint Petersburg's "gay propaganda" law to the entire country.
I believe that it should never be illegal to defend the dignity of friends and family. 

(Watch this video to the end, there is a purpose to it)

This law is trying to make speaking about lesbian, gay, bi and transgender (LGBT) illegal in the city.  Now that lawmakers in the Duma (the federal legislature) are debating a version of the law, this despicable law could go national - unless we fight it now. They are making words illegal. I personally have words to describe how messed up this law is but...

Did you know that 76 countries still criminalize being gay, 10 countries make being LGBT punishable by death or life imprisonment. But you can stop this, sign the petition at AllOut. Would you want someone to be silenced because you didn't speak up?

Kris

PS: Send this post to everyone, you don't have to be LGBT to stand up for what's right.
PSS: All the videos in this post can be found on my YouTube channel here.