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Putin Stays on Antigay Offensive

Putin Stays on Antigay Offensive

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Equating same-sex relationships with 'traditional' families is like equating belief in God with belief in Satan, the Russian president said Thursday.

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Russian president Vladimir Putin continued on the offensive, so to speak, with antigay remarks at the Valdai International Discussion Club's forum in Russia Thursday, making a connection (sort of) between gay relationships and Satanism, and saying Silvio Berlusconi is being persecuted for being heterosexual.

Putin, who recently signed Russia's ban on "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" into law, said "traditionalism" is the most important aspect of Russian national identity, and he criticized Western European countries for rejecting tradition, the Russian TV network RT reports. In those countries, he said, "any traditional identity ... including sexual identity, is rejected. ... There is a policy equating families with many children with same-sex families, belief in God with belief in Satan."

He defended the law on demographic grounds as well, saying, "Europeans are dying out. Don't you understand that? And same-sex marriages don't produce children."

Putin also defended his friend Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister who is appealing his conviction on a charge of having sex with an underage woman. "Berlusconi faces trial for bedding women," Putin said. "If he was gay, no one would ever lay a finger on him."

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.