Tag: Vladimir Putin

American director Oliver Stone has deflected criticism over his recently calling of Russia’s 2013 anti-gay propaganda law “sensible” by stating that neither he nor Russian President are anti-LGBTQ. Stone called Russia’s law “sensible” during his recent interview with Putin. In the interview, Stone decried the “unhealthy Western culture” of young people identifying as genderqueer and transgender. Putin agreed, stating, “They live too well. They have nothing to think about.” Then the interview continued: Oliver Stone: Years ago when we were talking about...

After a gay male couple brought their adopted children to a Moscow hospital for appendicitis, Russian authorities hunted the couple down and took their kids away because of the country’s law forbidding the exposure of minors to “gay propaganda.” So much for Putin’s assertion that Russia has “no problem with LGBT persons.” Doctors contacted the Investigative Committee of Russia, and The Committee sued the adoption agency for “negligently” giving the kids to the couple back in 2010. Then, as Gay Star...

For the first time, Russia has used its 2013 federal law prohibiting “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships” to split a male same-sex couple from their legally adopted 12- and 14-year-old sons. The fathers brought their sons to a Moscow hospital in June over a suspected case of appendicitis. Doctors then alerted the Investigative Committee of Russia, and the Committee later charged the adoption agency with “negligence” for allowing the kids to be adopted by a gay man in 2010. The Committee’s...

“It seems like maybe that’s a sensible law. As you know, I’ve been very rebel all my life. Still am. And I have to tell you, I’m shocked by some of the behaviors and the thinking of the new generation. It takes so much for granted. And so much of the argument, so much of the thinking, so much of the newspaper, television commentaries about gender, people identify themselves, and social media, this and that, I’m male, I’m female,...

Oliver Stone — the director best known for JFK, Natural Born Killers and the George W. Bush biopic W — recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said of Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law, “It seems like maybe that’s a sensible law.” In an interview transcript released by the Kremlin on Friday, Stone and Putin had the following exchange: Oliver Stone: As you know, I’ve been very rebel all my life. Still am. And I have to tell you, I’m shocked by...

FaceApp is one of the most popular apps in the world right now, but privacy advocates are raising concerns about the information that it’s collecting. The app, which was developed by the Russian company Wireless Lab, lets users modify pictures of their faces to make them seem older, younger, as another gender, or hotter. But the data stored in the app isn’t as private as some people could think. The app uses a Facebook login, giving it access to users’ pictures,...

A new video game lets you help a Pride parade stay on rhythm and face opponents of equality in one-on-one dance-offs. Pride Run, from Green Man Gaming, is a colorful, retro-style PC game where players can choose to march with Pride in 16 different cities. Players tap to the beat of the game’s original disco soundtrack to keep the parade moving forward. Spectators will join the parade if the player does well and leave if they miss the beat. At the end...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new commission that he said will decide which human rights are more important to U.S. foreign policy. The new Commission on Unalienable Rights will answer questions like “What does it mean to say or claim that something is, in fact, a human right?” and “How do we know or how do we determine whether that claim that this or that is a human right, is it true, and therefore, ought it to be...

In a recent interview with The Financial Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has no problem with gay people, despite the country’s anti-gay propaganda law and the continued arrest, torture and murder of gay people in the Russian region of Chechnya. In response, out gay rock star Elton John pointed out that the country’s anti-gay attitudes effectively censored gay content from his recent biopic Rocketman. In his Financial Times interview, Putin said that “liberal governments had not acted to...

Ahead of a meeting with UK Prime Minister Theresa May at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Russian leader Vladimir Putin decried LGBTQ equality as a sign of the decadence of liberalism. Speaking with the Financial Times, Putin said that liberalism had become “obsolete.” “It has come into conflict with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population,” he said, referring to the rise of ethno-nationalist movements in Europe and the U.S. and the election of Donald Trump as signs of...

“We Americans, organized as American citizens with American ideals, are determined to protect ourselves, our homes, our spouses and children against terrorist migrants and the fake media enemies of the people in our schools, our universities, our very homes!” This easily could have come out of the mouth of Donald J. Trump at any of his “Make America Great Again” rallies. It represents, however, the paraphrased words of Fritz Julius Kuhn, a naturalized U.S. citizen and leader of the German American...

Officials are already working to amend Russian family law. Thanks to a loophole, a pair of gay newlyweds have “accidentally” become the first same-sex couple to have their marriage legally recognized by Russia, the Moscow Times reports. Returning home after getting married January 4 in Copenhagen, Russian citizens Eugene Wojciechowski and Pavel Stotsko took their notarized Danish registration forms to the Moscow registry office in an attempt to get the updated marriage page of their passports stamped. The newlyweds told Russia’s Rain...

The names of 27 people slaughtered in a single night by Chechen authorities have been published. The secret mass execution is thought to have seen up to 56 people killed – all without trial. Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper based in the region, has published the list of names it claims President Ramzan Kadyrov’s government killed. The executions were all carried out in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, on the night of 25 January, the newspaper claims. According to the strongly anti-Putin publication, mass arrests and...

In an interview with Oliver Stone, Putin declared "God has decided." Vladimir Putin claims it’s his “duty” to stop gay people from getting married. In an interview with Oliver Stone airing on Showtime this week, the Russian president explained that, as head of state, he was obligated “to uphold traditional values and family values.” His reasoning? “Because same-sex marriages will not produce any children. God has decided, and we have to care about birth rates in our country. We have to reinforce...