The death of former South African president Nelson Mandela gave LGBT Americans a chance to celebrate the life of a man whose push for reconciliation and equality proactively included LGBT South Africans. The Rainbow Nation’s first post-apartheid president ushered in a constitution that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. The only one of its kind in the world.
But as all this was happening, gays were suffering serious setbacks elsewhere.
The situation for LGBT people in Russia is widely known. The same day I told you about Russian journalist Masha Gessen’s plea to nations and organizations “to help [LGBT] people get out [of Russia] with their families,” Russian President Vladimir Putin cracked down harder. He dissolved the state news agency and created one headed by Dmitry Kiselyov, an outspoken homophobe who, according to the Moscow Times, had choice things to say about gay men and lesbians.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/12/16/not-so-gay-in-russia-india-and-australia/In April 2012, Kiselyov stated on his show that he believed anti-gay propaganda laws did not go far enough and that homosexuals should be banned from donating blood and sperm. Taking it even further, he said if a homosexual died in a car accident, his or her heart should be buried or burned, but never given to someone as a transplant since the organs would be “unsuitable for extending the life of another.”
