Homosexuality is illegal in Russia

[Dex]

Originally Posted by TrueFaith77

My knowledge on this topic is limited. My understanding is that the laws referred to do not ban homosexuality but rather ban propoganda aimed at or distributed to minors that promote alternative sexual lifestyles (other than the married procreative heterosexual norm). Russia has a real population decrease problem. I think that is the "rationale" behind these laws; plus Putin has, in my theory, been recognizing that Russia's Orthodox religious heritage can replace the Soviet myths that once held together the country.

I think you have the letter of the law, right. It's just that in practice it is much more dangerous than it sounds in those words. Indeed, what is "gay propaganda" really? And what does it mean to "distribute it to minors"? Nobody was ever handing out leaflets to schoolchildren with smiling men saying "I took it up the ass and now every day is an A+!" It seems like any acknowledgement of homosexuality as being not completely awful in any context a minor could possibly ever encounter it could fall under this legal ban. But I agree, we really need someone who is experiencing it first-hand to give us more insight into the realities at the moment.

Your theory about rallying the population around the Orthodox church is an interesting one, and makes sense. I hope nobody is even attempting to frame this as a method of tackling the population decrease problem, though. Because to do so would be completely insane. And also show Putin as having demonstrably horrendous problem-solving skills.

Originally Posted by chriskisn

I'm not one of those people who believe that homosexuality (or any other type of sexuality) is necessarily a genetic pre-disposition. I believe at least most of the time, sexuality is shaped by our experiences (and they might be experiences in childhood).

Well, I'd never want to say never, as the field of human psychology is still very much in its baby steps. But really, social scientists have enthusiastically tried to establish a causal link between postnatal environment and sexual orientation for over a hundred years, and still haven't come up with literally anything. The prenatal-environment theories seem to be the ones that are coming up with the goods to back themselves up, however I'm sure there is a complex array of causes involved.

If you're speaking about sexuality more generally, and beyond sexual orientation, then I agree that there could easily be early-life environmental factors, but the whole thing is still a big mystery to us all.

Perhaps it is just because we choose to put labels on things that causes the issues, I'm not sure why we feel the need to classify people into straight, gay, bi etc.

I hear this aversion to labels a lot, and while I think it sounds rather lovely on paper, in practice I really don't get what's so wrong with a label. Especially when it comes to issues of love and sexuality, which are such a major part of adult life in most of the world. These "labels" are just quick ways of acknowledging which gender an individual is predominantly attracted to. Which is valuable information for those of us who want to have a clue what's going on with people. For example, I like a guy, find out he identifies as straight, I move on happily. If he instead says "Oh, I'm not into labels, but I'm really just not very attracted to you even slightly" I can't help but feel a little bit stung, and maybe a bit irritated at how deliberately obtuse he's being. Labels can be pretty awesome, IMO.