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Putin's PR Contradicts Reality
Russia's president claims no one is discriminated against and no one is hurt by antigay laws — meanwhile, arrests continue.Arrests continued this weekend even as Russian president Vladimir Putin claims his country's ban on so-called gay propaganda "does not hurt anyone."
In an interview on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Putin argued that, "It seems to me that the law that we have adopted does not hurt anyone" and that "individuals of non-traditional orientation cannot feel like second-rate humans in this country because they are not discriminated against in any way."
The interview aired on the same weekend that a man was tackled to the ground and then arrested by security personnel all for waving a rainbow flag as the Olympic torch passed by in Voronezh, Russia. The Associated Press reports that the man, Pavel Lebedev, is still in custody and being questioned by authorities.
The "gay propaganda" law forbids any mention of homosexuality while in the presence of minors. Putin himself warned LGBT visitors to the Olympics last week to "leave children alone, please." Holding a rainbow flag in public appears to be among the violations of that rule.
http://www.advocate.com/sports/2014/01/19/putins-pr-contradicts-reality
