Last updated on February 16th, 2021 at 07:34 am
On June 25, the US Embassy in Moscow hung a “rainbow” flag on its building, thus honoring the movement in support of “LGBT rights”. Not limited to this, the embassy published a number of LGBT-related posts on its Facebook page. One of them was dedicated to the anniversary of the Stonewall riots – a series of pogroms and violent acts by members of “sexual minorities” in response to the arrest of a transvestite group in New York in 1969.
Another post stated: “Today we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing same-sex marriage as legal. This decision allowed all adults in the United States, regardless of their sexual orientation, to find happiness and satisfaction in a legally recognized relationship.”. Then it praised the reasoning behind this SCOTUS decision authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy.
The only reaction to the embassy’s actions by the Russian high-level authorities was a joke from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which answered its American colleagues by posting on Facebook a commentary with the musical theme of the Blue Oyster Bar from the Police Academy movie.
The Russian public reacted with much greater indignation. Near the walls of the embassy a rally was organized by Russian Orthodox activists. The protesters held in their hands a poster saying “Americans! Which is your flag?”
However, the efforts of foreign diplomats to promote “rainbow values” in Russia did not end there. On June 27, the British Embassy also hung out a rainbow flag.
The same day a joint statement on Pride Month 2020 was published signed by the heads of embassies of the members-states of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance (USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). In the text, they called on Russia to fulfill “its stated commitment” to protect the “the rights of all citizens, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community”. As always in such cases, a clear focus on the interests of “sexual minorities” was covered by general words about the universality of human rights.
Many took the actions of these foreign diplomats to be a kind of political agitation – after all, it was precisely on these days that a nationwide vote was being held in Russia to introduce a number of amendments to the Constitution. Among them were amendments on the protection of traditional family values and marriage between a man and a woman, as well as on the legal priority of the Constitution itself over decisions of international bodies. These changes angered LGBT-activists, and the actions of foreign ambassadors were seen by many as an expression of warm support for the “rainbow lobby” and a protest against changes in the Russian Constitution — in other words, as a frank interference in the internal affairs of the host state.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was silent this time too. But representatives of the Russian public did not remain silent. A number of NGOs, including “For Family Rights”, OUZS, and CitizenGO Russia, issued an open statement in response to the diplomats of the “Five Eyes” countries.
They recalled therein that genuine international human rights law requires the protection of marriage between a man and a woman, of the natural family, and of human life from the moment of conception until natural death. As for the “rainbow values” and the dubious concepts of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” promoted by the diplomats of the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, international human rights norms are silent about them, because the peoples of the world have never univocally agreed on them.
Embassies have not yet responded to the letter. But some high-level Russian politicians are already reacting to what is happening. The deputy chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation (the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament), Mr. Petr Tolstoy, has sent an official letter to the Parliamentary commission on investigation of foreign interference in Russia’s internal affairs in connection to the western diplomats’ actions. He also called on his fellow members of Parliament, the state prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to react to what is happening.
Below we publish the full text of the open statement of Russian NGOs, which has been co-signed on the Russian CitizenGO web-site by nearly 25,000 citizens.
GIVE UP LYING AND RESPECT GENUINE HUMAN RIGHTS
RUSSIAN PUBLIC’S RESPONSE
TO THE DIPLOMATS OF ‘FIVE EYES’ COUNTRIES
Ambassadors and interim heads of diplomatic missions of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance member countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) have issued a statement demanding of Russia to adhere to its ‘stated commitment’ to protect ‘the rights … of representatives of the LGBTI community’.
In this statement diplomats of the Five Eyes countries show blatant disrespect not only for the dignity, values, and beliefs of the majority of Russian citizens, but also for real human rights and norms of international law.
Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise since, having the effrontery to lecture Russia, your countries are themselves constantly violating these rights and norms.
You are violating human rights and generally recognized international norms by legalizing homosexual ‘marriages’ and allowing gay couples to adopt children. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is through the marriage of a man and a woman that the family, the natural and fundamental group unit of society, is created.
It is an outrage to coerce people by force of law to consider as ‘family’ and ‘marriage’ something that is not and cannot be family or marriage, forcing them to act against their conscience and moral beliefs. It is unacceptable to violate the children’s right to have a dad and a mom, a real family, by giving them up to be brought up by same-sex couples.
You are violating fundamental rights of the parents by introducing sex education programs in elementary schools and kindergartens against their will, and by indoctrinating small children with radical ideas that ruin their innocence.
You are violating human rights and international norms by persecuting people for what you, for reasons unknown, are calling ‘hate speech’: honestly and openly expressing their beliefs, criticizing aggressive LGBT policies and totalitarian gender ideology. In your countries, people can be imprisoned for burning a ‘rainbow’ flag or for expressing a traditional Christian attitude towards homosexuality, and fined for refusing to cater at a same-sex ‘wedding’. Is this not a violation of the right to freedom of speech and belief?
You are violating a person’s right to life by resorting to euthanasia, by killing seriously ill and elderly people, instead of really caring for them.
You are violating international norms by imposing on the world spurious concepts whose usage other states did not consent to, such as ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’. By your pressure, you are trying to force other countries to abandon their traditions and laws, and instead to approve abortions and same-sex ‘marriages’, although neither constitutes a human right. You destroy genuine human rights by substituting them with your inventions, and then force other countries to agree with you using diplomatic and economic pressure, or even outright bribery.
In short, hiding behind the fine language of ‘human rights’ you are, in fact, acting like cultural colonialists and ideological aggressors.
In Russia, the Constitution protects people from real discrimination – on such grounds as gender, race, nationality, language, origin, etc. But Russia does not have any ‘commitments’ to treat people in a special way because of their sexual behaviour or illusory perceptions of themselves.
Stop lecturing Russia and other countries, forcing them to endorse a lifestyle that is considered by most traditional world cultures and religions as deeply immoral.
Instead, make sure that your own countries are respecting genuine human rights – protecting marriage between a man and a woman, the natural family, the rights of a child to a father and a mother, protecting human life, freedom of speech and belief for everyone, including Christians and representatives of other traditional religions, opponents of the ‘LGBT’ lobby and gender ideology.