adminCAPE TOWN — Anti-gay laws have found support from an overwhelming majority of Russians, a regular poll has shown, say reports. RT reports that a July poll conducted by Russia’s Independent Levada Centre showed that the overwhelming majority of Russians do not support non-traditional sexual orientation. According to the general director of the centre for political information, Aleksey Mukhin, Russia is still a very traditional and conservative country.
The Russian parliament voted with overwhelming support for the new law which bans “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations around minors”.
The laws have sparked outrage from western media sources like CBC news in the United States which have aired critics who say that the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, has tried to wage a culture war.
“On the one side of this war is his shrinking constituency, which he views as Russian traditionalists in every sense,” the report says.
“So they’re nationalists. They are socially very conservative. They identify as Russian orthodox.”
Demonstrations and protests have gained momentum, CNN reports, with calls for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia to gay bars in Los Angeles planning “vodka-dumping” protests.
Human Rights Watch has described the law as “a profoundly discriminatory and dangerous billthat is bound to worsen homophobia in Russia”. — News24.
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