“Who works in this building?” Vladimir Putin asked the speaker to see the flag at the American Embassy
Moscow:
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin mocked a rainbow LGBT pride flag hanging from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, suggesting that it reflected the direction of diplomats.
Lawmakers told Putin on video conference call that the U.S. Embassy hung a rainbow flag on its facade for the first time to celebrate Pride Month in June.
“Who works in this building?” Putin asked the speaker, Senator Alexei Pushkov, to be informed of the “Americans”.
“Let them celebrate. They showed something about the people who work there,” he added with a smile.
Putin signed constitutional amendments backed by a national vote on Friday that include a clause on marriage between a man and a woman, aimed at preventing the legalization of homosexual unions.
However, the president said on Friday that Russia does not discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation.
He said that a law banning the promotion of same-sex relationships with minors, which he signed in 2013 in a storm of international condemnation, was simply aimed at preventing the “frothing” of such relationships with children.
The law has been used as a pretext to ban gay pride events.
“Let a person grow, become an adult and decide for themselves. You should not impose anything,” said Putin.
He said that “those who attack us on this basis are simply trying to break an open door”.
A conservative politician at the head of the Union of Women of Russia warned Putin that billboards used rainbow imagery to sell ice cream.
“It’s indirect but it still forces our children to get used to the colors, to the flag that everyone hangs up, even on this embassy,” said Yekaterina Lakhova.
US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan in a Twitter video on June 25 said that “our embassy displays the rainbow flag in solidarity”, wishing the Russians “happy pride”.
On June 27, he and the ambassadors of four other countries, including Britain, issued a statement urging the Russian government to fulfill its obligations to protect the rights of LGBT people.
The British Embassy in Moscow also displayed a rainbow flag.
The flag on the U.S. Embassy, an imposing building on a main highway, has become the target of homophobic protests.
Members of Sorok Sorokov, a conservative Orthodox Christian group, filmed themselves trampling a rainbow flag on the sidewalk in front of the building.
A spokesman for the Orthodox Church flammed the flag as disrespectful of Russian values.
Many, however, took selfies in front of the flag to signal their support for gay rights. “The pride flag on the US embassy has become a landmark,” wrote entertainment site Afisha.ru.
Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
