Madonna Annoys The Russians And Quite A Few Others
I have never seen Madonna live or indeed any of her films, but her latest tour does seem to be getting its share of complaints. Read about it in the Independent. The Russians are even suing her.
She is also being sued by anti-gay activists in Russia for allegedly encouraging gay sex between minors at a show in St Petersburg. Lawyers are seeking millions in ‘moral damages’ after she called on Russians to respect gay rights and passed out pink bracelets to the audience.
But as a wag from Liverpool has commented on the article has said, “Hollyoaks does that!”, referring to encouraging minors to have sex.
Most of the complainants and Madonna herself should all grow up and be more responsible.
The Anonymous Widower 
While Russian society is quite homophobic by Western standards, this time the real reason behind that statement was Madonna’s support for Pussy Riot group. Then again their fault wasn’t really blasphemy but insults towards Putin they made in public. That’s how personal complexes of our Tsar, being masqueraded, are unleashing series of very dangerous precedents sending the country for a century or two back.
Comment by Yuriy | October 22, 2012 |
Thanks for the insight. We have quite a few prominent openly gay people in the UK. Would it be possible for a member of the Duma to be gay, like several of our MPs? Or a riock star like Elton John?
Comment by AnonW | October 23, 2012 |
Yes, there is an openly gay performer who’s also a member of ruling party (http://j.mp/QQkZhA) (alas, nowhere near as talented as Elton John). Also he’s silently allowed to express his gayness only by looking like a clown and to implement other stereotypes straight people have about gays. Say kissing a man in public would be a scandal even for him, who abides the rules. But his and other similar cases are needed for officials to resemble that “I’m not racist, I even have black friends” situation.
The official position by the way could be put as “come on, no one denies gays of any rights straight people have”, with say gay parades considered something extra and thus not necessary.
There are gay bars in big cities like Moscow, but from time to time they get attacked (and police seems to be fine with that).
On the other hand, this is not unique to Russia. I don’t think gay life in other Eastern European countries such as Hungary or Romania is much different.
Comment by Yuriy | October 23, 2012