France to unveil gay marriage but Russia …
The French government will present legislation on the legalisation of gay marriage these days, the office of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault proclaimed. According to a spokesman the bill on ‘marriage for all’ would change the definition of marriage in the civil code from the union of ‘a man and a woman’ to the union of ‘two people’. The bill will also propose that gay couples be allowed to adopt children, the spokeswoman said.
The legalisation of gay marriage was one of President Francois Hollande‘s election promises. Gay couples can currently form civil unions (PACS), but their rights under such partnerships fall far short of those of married couples. Several countries in the EMEA region have already legalised gay marriage and the right of adoption, including Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Spain, Portugal and South Africa.
Quite the opposite development can be found in Russia, where conservative groups have intensified their fight ‘against homosexuality’. Activists from Orthodox groups have started to proclaim the US American company PepsiCo as a new danger to the people’s health and values in form of the dairy products brand ‘Vesyoly Molochik’ (which means ‘happy milkman’) for some very particular reason: Packages portray a smiling milkman in front of a green meadow with a rainbow stretching across the sky. As the rainbow is considered – according to Russian interpretation – to be the ‘global symbol of the sodomite movement’ (sic), Russian judiciary is currently investigating claims. But this is not a solitaire exception or exaggeration: A court in the metropolis of St. Petersburg subpoenaed US pop singer Madonna for allegedly disseminating ‘homosexual propaganda’ during her concert in the city at the beginning of August. Madonna demanded respect and tolerance and distributed pink wristbands during her show. She is being investigated in connection with a new law passed in the city early this year (by Putin’s party) which criminalises ‘public behaviour that promotes sodomy, lesbians, bisexuality and trans-genderism among minors’. In fact, this law led the Canadian Foreign Ministry to issue a travel warning for gays and lesbians, urging them to avoid public displays of affection in St. Petersburg. A recent study reveals that 62% of Russians condemn homosexuality. Accordingly, for the plaintiffs Madonna has caused ‘colossal moral damage’ and is demanded to pay roughly €8.3 million. Any LGBT progress made in Western societies should be seen against the backdrop of extremely difficult situations for LGBT communities in the majority of countries (!) in the world, including worsening trends like in Russia or the existence of death penalty. But even in many Western societies, suicide rates are still higher among gay youth than among their straight peers. This is hence another area where a lot more work is still to be accomplished.
