LF: US gay marriage ruling unleashes debate in Russia

Moscow (AFP) - The US Supreme Court's move to legalise gay marriages triggered heated debate in Russia on Sunday, with one MP saying Facebook should be blocked while a senator urged the adoption of the US army's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

In a show of support for the US Supreme Court's historic decision, Facebook introduced a function allowing users to decorate their profiles with the rainbow flag of the gay rights movement and many Russians added a rainbow filter to their photos.

Their opponents immediately came up with a counter move, superimposing a Russian tri-colour against their pictures.

Homophobia remains widespread in the country, and almost no public figures have come out as gay.

Since coming to the Kremlin for a third term in 2012, President Vladimir Putin has forcefully promoted traditional values, seeking to paint Russia as an antithesis to the West.

In 2013, he signed off on a hugely controversial law banning the promotion or display of homosexuality in front of minors.

The US Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage on Friday ignited fresh debate in Russia which is locked in confrontation with the West over Ukraine.

Lawmaker Vitaly Milonov said Facebook should be shut down in Russia while senator Konstantin Dobrynin said it is Milonov who should be banned.

Dobrynin, deputy head of constitutional legislation committee in the parliament's upper house, said it was necessary to reduce the level of aggression in society towards gays.

"The most important thing is to immediately reduce the intensity of aggression towards sexual minorities," he wrote in a blog post.

He said there should be no place in politics for "quasi- politicians" speculating on the fight against gays.

"Because it them -- and not gays -- who are a direct and overt threat to Russia's security and the state should fight them."

He said Russia should legalise the US army's "don't ask, don't tell policy as a compromise measure to reconcile conservative and liberal Russians.

"Don't ask, don't tell" was the US policy on military service by gays and lesbians. The stipulation was repealed in 2011.

The unusual proposal came after Saint Petersburg lawmaker Milonov said he would formally request Russia's telecoms oversight agency to shut down Facebook in Russia.

"It is a crude violation of Russian legislation. Facebook has no age limits, it is impossible to control how many minors are there," Milonov said on radio Saturday evening.

"That is why it would be completely normal to pull the plug on Facebook in Russia."

Milonov, who sits in the regional parliament of Saint Petersburg, introduced a law in the city banning "propaganda" of gay relationships to minors before a similar federal law was adopted and came into force in 2013, sparking international controversy.

Milonov said he would petition Roskomnadzor, Russia's telecoms oversight agency, and if that does not help he would appeal to the FSB security service and President Vladimir Putin personally.

"I would call on thousands of people and we will write to the FSB and Putin," he said.

Milonov's words drew disdain from activists, and a picture of Milonov superimposed against the rainbow flag was making the rounds on social media.

To celebrate the US Supreme Court's ruling, the White House was on Friday lit up in rainbow colours.

Some gay activists said that Russia, too, would one day uphold gay people's right to marry, but not necessarily in their lifetime.

"Most likely I will not live to see the day when some democratic, honestly-elected president illuminates the Kremlin in rainbow colours for one day," journalist and activist Anton Krasovsky said on Facebook.

"There will be happiness. For sure. Because love wins," wrote Elena Kostyuchenko, the openly gay correspondent for Russia's top opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

Some of their opponents added a Russian flag-coloured filter to their online profiles.

The only talk in Russia is how stupid and perverse America is. They are laughing at the US and western countries due to their self destructive ways!

"According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures , or psychological warfare. What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.

It's a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages.

The first stage being "demoralization".

It takes from 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy exposed to the ideology of [their] enemy. In other words, Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least 3 generation of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism.

--KGB Defector Yuri Bezmenov

--Soviet Subversion of the Free Press (Ideological subversion, Destabilization, CRISIS - and the KGB)

Yup, we have allowed propagandization and preparation of the greatest proportion of several generations to be lifetime subversives. That was the original strategy devised in the twenties and thirties. It has worked.

My asshole acquaintances at Tea Party meetings think the solution is prayer and reciting the pledge of allegiance while remaining ignorant of economics, history, and political theory. They are helpless in trying to refute the radical left, as are many people at this site.

I grew up in America, then spent years fighting Soviet-Leftest propaganda. I married a Russian girl 15 years ago. Russians are smart but we give them far too much credit. The Leftest problem in this country is our our own home grown idiots.