Acceptance

Hello my friends,

I know, it's been a long time.  I've been busy; sort of.  Anyhoo, I hope all is well in your worlds.

So I don't know if you've been paying attention to the news regarding the new 'anti-gay law' which has been enacted in Russia.  If you have any questions about the specifics, you could read this AP story which spells things out in a little more detail.  If you don't want to bother reading these, the essentials are that Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993; however this new law criminalizes public expression of support for 'non-traditional' relationships.  Basically, it allows the authorities to fine anyone found to be promoting 'non-traditional' sexual relations to children (people under 18).  It uses the word propaganda, and a couple of the articles I read defined 'non-traditional' as 'those not related to procreation'.

I could not find any mention of incarceration, however, it seems that the government has the right to throw you out of the country if you're not a citizen and you're found propagandizing.  This is not surprising:  any country has the right to throw you out if you're not a citizen and they don't want you there.

The fact that this law was enacted is offensive enough despite not actually criminalizing homosexuality.  If you do a looser search you'll find many stories/articles which claim that 'anti-gay' sentiment in Russia runs very high:  last August Moscow banned gay pride parades for 100 years despite being fined in 2010 by the European court for not allowing them earlier (2006).  You'll also find stories that claim that non-traditional relationships are an affront to 'traditional' Russian values and the Russian Orthodox Church (they never say how, just that they are).  They can wrap it up however they like, it's still discrimination:  it always has been and it is now legal in Russia.

When you hear about this law in the news you also hear about the potential impact it will have on the athletes participating in the 2014 winter Olympics that are being hosted by Russia.  There has been much ado over this.  A couple of well-known celebrities have called for boycotts, and some have even suggested that the games be moved to a different city and country altogether (George Takei suggested Vancouver).  The reasons behind this movement is not just the law itself though:  apparently, the anti-gay sentiment has led to a lot of violence against LGBT people in Russia.  From the Advocate:

"Additionally, a well-known group of Russian neo-Nazis has been luring gay teens in the country with personal ads on gay dating websites, then beating them, humiliating them, and forcing them to come out on video.  

Russian authorities have either ignored or condoned the antigay violence."

So is boycotting the right thing to do?  Of course it is.  Will it happen?  Unfortunately not.  Why  not?  For the same reasons that any type of discrimination still exists:  because we accept it.

Sexism still exists because we accept it.  Racism still exists because we allow it to.  Obviously I don't mean on an individual level:  I don't accept discrimination and it's gotten me into hot water more than once.  But I'm okay with that.  Most of my friends don't accept discrimination either.  What I mean about accepting it is on a societal level.  As a society, we allow discrimination by letting it happen; by not stopping it if it's not happening to us.  All sorts of bad things happen in the world and we shake our heads and say out loud how horrible and unjust life can be, and privately thank whatever powers may be that these things didn't happen to us and we go about our business.

We accept that bad things happen to good people.  We accept that people are going to be mean to other people and hurt other people.  We accept things like rape and murder.  People possessing illicit drugs, and bank robbers get longer sentences in most American states than rapists and people convicted of manslaughter (that's a generalization obviously and it doesn't apply to the one percent).  And we accept discrimination because it's not happening to the majority of us.  Obviously.  When the brave young woman in Stuebenville went to the police after being raped by members of the local high school football team the state attorney general said that, unfortunately, this was just another Friday night and that the culture had to change (don't quote me on that, I can't find a reference but that was the gist).  Without getting too far into one type of discrimination over another, the essence is that these things happen because we let them.  And they're systemic.

So people are going to complain about the human rights violations in Russia, but the countries are still going to go because the people who make the decisions (the people who count the money) are okay with human rights violations (as long as they aren't affected individually).  And if your team is going and you've been training for at least the past four years, you don't want to miss the games if everyone else in your field will be there and the games are still on.  Everyone went to Beijing despite the protests about human rights violations there.

Discrimination is wrong - for so many reasons, on so many levels.  What is happening in Russia is wrong - for so many reasons, on so many levels.  Is any other country going to actually do anything about it?  No.  Nobody wants to stand up and be counted.  No one is going to make those unpopular decisions:  at least not at that level.  Not where and when it counts.

I can't imagine this will make anyone feel any better, but I'll boycott watching the Olympics on principal.  It's a small thing, but it's what I can do.  If anyone else has an idea, please let me know.

Until next time peeps, drive safe!