Posted on 02/08/2014 6:07:31 AM PST by massmike
Russian police detained gay rights activists who tried to protest on Moscow's Red Square and in St Petersburg on Friday, shortly before Vladimir Putin opened the Sochi Winter Olympics, gay rights activists said.
Police in Moscow and St Petersburg did not immediately comment on the reports by the gay activists, who said 10 protesters were detained in Moscow and four in Russia's second city.
A list posted by one rights activist on Facebook said two of those detained in Moscow were women from Sweden.
In St Petersburg, the protesters were detained after unfurling a banner declaring "Discrimination is incompatible with the Olympic Movement", gay rights group All Out said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
So what do you propose? Should Obama speak sternly to Putin? Send troops over to Russia? Should we protest here?
Do you not believe that basic human rights were granted by our Creator and not subject to political or geographic boundaries?
Do you believe in homosexual “rights”?
Homosexuals are mentally ill and morally depraved. Their behavior causes disease and death, and their agenda is to seduce and molest children, thereby furthering the cycle of pestilence, misery, and early mortality.
With that in mind, maybe Russia should allow others with harmful mental problems and criminal tendencies to "raise a sign and a voice." Why not? What's the difference?
I believe in the right to free speech, which you continue to confuse either intentionally or due to a lack of mental horsepower.
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Ah, now we're getting to it.
As a matter of general philosophy, is it a government’s role to suppress free speech?
I see it as protecting the morals of the country.
Do you believe that in this country we have the right to protest anywhere we want to? It’s not about the words, but the location, remember “Free Speech Zones”?
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What ways would those be?
Fair enough - we will just have to agree to disagree on this issue. But if you wish to cede to government the right to enforce morality, don’t react with outrage when it enforces its own version at odds with yours.
Let Russia be Russia, and we’ll take care of ourselves. One Size does not fit all.
It's the same for any tourist. If I can't abide by the laws of a country, I should visit elsewhere. If I want to change the laws of a country, it should be one in which I'm a citizen.
Most of us think it's disgusting that invaders in the US protest to change our laws. How is strident homosexuals going to Russia and trying to change their laws any different?
And PS: Those Pussy Riot performets who desecrated a Church should've been locked up for good.
Raising a sign and a voice is a basic human right no matter how much I disagree with the opinion. Just because I support the right to speak doesn’t mean I’m logically compelled to support what a person is speaking about. This goes for any issue. This is foundational.
So do you think foreign agent provocateurs have the right to free speech?
I’m not clear if that was the issue here - or whether they would be granted a permit if one was requested. Hypothetically speaking, in your view should the govt grant them a permit if requested? If your contention is that they could have availed themselves of this process and chose not to use it, then I definitely see that point.
I’ve already said I’m not sure what else could be done. However, I don’t believe sitting silent while others excuse and apologize for it accomplishes anything good.
Some of them were foreign agent provocateurs from Sweden....Sorry even in this country non-citizens shouldn't have those rights, especially if they are trying to inflame the citizens.
...but please do not support a state silencing the opinion of those who believe they are standing up for what is right and proper.
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Would you say the same if these were NAMBLA protestors or purveyors of child pornography or bestiality supporters?
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