GAY TRUTH

Russian Prime Minster Vladimir Putin yesterday  signed the bill  to outlaw the promotion of homosexuality, “same-sex marriage,” and Gay Pride parades throughout the Russian Federation . The national law reinforces and expands previous regional legislation in St. Petersburg . The law outlaws distributing of information on “non-traditional sexual concepts” to children, describing such actions as attractive, promoting a “distorted understanding of social equality of traditional and non-traditional relations” and being involved in the “unwanted solicitation of information that could provoke interest in such relations.” Those Russians giving children propaganda about homosexuality could be fined up to 5,000 rubles ($152 U.S.). Foreigners could be fined the same amount, held in jail for 15 days and deported. Officials convicted of the offense can be fined up to 50,000 rubles (about $1,500 U.S.), or 500,000 rubles for companies (about $15,000 U.S.). Promoting “non-tradi...

Russian MPs have passed a law introducing stiff fines and jail terms for anyone who promotes homosexual ''propaganda'' to minors, a measure critics fear will be used to justify the repression of gays amid rising homophobia. The bill, designed to discourage open discussion of homosexuality in public places or in media accessible by children, is one of a wave of new laws that align the government more closely with the teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church . Russia 's parliament, the Duma , also passed a blasphemy bill that criminalises the insulting of religion and stiffens the penalty to up to three years in prison if the insults are made inside a church, a response to the performance of a ''punk prayer'' against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow Orthodox Cathedral last year by members of the group Pussy Riot . Two members of Pussy Riot, the female punk band, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina , are serving two years in prison after being con...