state department briefly speaks out against russia's anti gay propaganda bill

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/state-department-speaks-out-against-russia-s-anti-gay-propaganda-bill-1322240369

State De­part­ment briefly ad­dressed an anti-gay pro­pa­ganda law now being con­sid­ered in St. Pe­ters­burg, Rus­sia dur­ing a press brief­ing on Tues­day. The mea­sure — which passed first read­ing ear­lier this month and is now being slightly al­tered be­fore a sec­ond read­ing on No­vem­ber 30th — would fine groups and in­di­vid­u­als for “pub­lic ac­tions aimed at pro­pa­ganda of ped­erasty, les­bian­ism, bi­sex­u­al­ity, and trans­gen­derism among mi­nors.” Human rights ad­vo­cates from around the world al­lege that the dis­crim­i­na­tory pro­posal is in vi­o­la­tion of the Eu­ro­pean Con­ven­tion of Human Rights, to which Rus­sia is a sig­na­tory.

State De­part­ment spokes­woman Vic­to­ria Nu­land promised to take these con­cerns to the Moscow Em­bassy and re­it­er­ated Sec­re­tary of State Hillary Clin­ton’s strong sup­port for LGBT equal­ity around the world:

QUES­TION: Just one quick one on Rus­sia. I don’t know whether you have any­thing on this, but there’s ap­par­ently a bill that’s sup­ported by Putin’s party which would – it’s in two major Russ­ian cities – that would crim­i­nal­ize al­most all ac­tiv­ity that is re­lated to LGBT equal­ity, equat­ing any dis­cus­sion of that issue with pe­dophilia. Have you heard about this? Is this any­thing that the State De­part­ment would be in­ter­ested in tak­ing up?

MS. NU­LAND: I have not heard about that one, Jill. I’ll cer­tainly ask our Em­bassy in Moscow whether they have been ac­tive on this issue. I think you know the prin­ci­pled stand that the United States Gov­ern­ment takes on this issue and that the Sec­re­tary of State in par­tic­u­lar takes on this issue, which is that gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights. And so I don’t think the Russ­ian Gov­ern­ment could have any ques­tion about where we would stand on such an issue. But let me take it and see whether we’ve been ac­tive at all.

[RKP5637]

1. K&R !!! n/t

[William769]

2. These were telling comments posted to the article.

"When is the US going to stop sticking their nose into the business of people on other continents? Or is this another atempt of the US Government's way of wagging the dog to get the people's mind off of the dispicable behavior of Government and Corp America, while they systematically destroy our middle class? Concentrate on greedy corporations who have sold their souls and find a way of bringing jobs back to our country. What the hell do you intend to do, attack them like you do every other little country you have destroyed for oil and gold? I don't think so. Now your huffing and puffing at the door of the big bad wolf."

"How is this ANY of our business? We have soooooo many problems in the USA such as a private central bank/Wall Street that has robbed everybody blind with phony money and real interest/debasement/inflation, the nearly complete de-industrialization and offshoring of high paying jobs, the ever expanding military industrial complex and intelligence industrial complex, the obvious militarization of "our" law enforcement agencies which puts OUR ability to express an alternative opinion into richly deserved scrutiny. Go out and hold a "The Holocaust was a Hoax" or "9/11 Was an Inside Job" or "End the Fed" signs and see how far OUR right to express ourselves goes. Although it is greed that has caused the ruinous expansion of the American Empire, it's our inability to mind our own damn business that's used to sell the ideas in the beginning. Besides, this sudden concern with Russia's social behavior kinda coincides perfectly with their recent support for Iran and overt disdain (completely justifiable IMO) for NATO surrounding them doesn't it? Yes, it does."

These don't sound like conservatives to me. :shrug:

Recommended.

[xchrom]

3. it's the same problem our Tribe has w/ liberals in general.

we just get to see the comments posted this time.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Wow, the State Department was unaware?

Meanwhile, thousands around the world are taking action....
We only have ONE week to stop the bill.
Take a moment to sign the online petition from All Out and share it with your friends.
www.allout.org/russia_silenced

Thanks for posting this.

[xchrom]

5. I don't know if I would believe them BUT

Thanks for the link, it's important.