First, I must apologize to my readers for being so late with
a new blog. Sometimes life gets hectic
and you run just to keep up! However,
your words of encouragement and comments on previous blogs fuels my intent to
continue. I try to always focus on
inspiration or events that we can relate to on a daily basis. I hope to continue with that and as always
your feedback is important to me.
The vast majority of us are the well-intended, hardworking
and honest “silent majority”. We are
busy trying to juggle our daily lives, family and close friends. Add on top of that tough careers and trying
to make ends meet on what seems like an ever increasing gap between income and expenses. But sometimes, we must speak up. This is one of those times I am asking you to
do just that.
This isn't a blog about being gay or lesbian or straight or
bi-sexual or transgender. It is about
being human. It is about a depth of violence
being perpetrated on a minority group of people for no other reason than they
exist. The frightening part about this
is it has happened before and will continue to happen unless the silent
majority speaks up and says, “Hell no!” Waiting
leads to the behavior becoming acceptable.
Look up the worst atrocities such as genocides and crimes against
humanity in Wikipedia and you will see a frightening re-occurrence of hate.
In Russia, there is increasing open violence against
particularly gay men. Russia has never
been especially tolerant; however, it has become epidemic in hate after Russian
President Vladimir Putin signed into law an “anti-homosexual propaganda” law in
June 2013. This pretty much made every
support group or attempt at supporting the LGBT community in Russia illegal. It also sent a clear message to hate groups, “Open
Season on Gays”.
The two most despicable vigilante leaders of these
activities are Ekaterina Zigunova (the following link gives you a better
understanding of this dangerous young woman)
and Maxim Martsinkevich, an ultra-nationalist who formed a
nationwide organization that kidnaps and tortures young gay teens (the
following link will give you an idea of the brutality of this man).
Through a great deal of pressure by many in the world, Maxim
Martsinkevich was finally arrested and sentenced to 5 years in a Russian penal colony. Just think he kidnapped, beat and humiliated gay
kids. Only 5 years and no other
prosecutions.
The following are videos of activities in Russia. Only continued pressure will cause Putin to
change the awful course he has now set in Russia. The first is a video of this violence and I
must warn you it is hard to watch. It is
courtesy of the Human Rights Watch nonprofit organization.
The second is a documentary about vigilante group that Ekaterina
Zigunova leads. The most frightening
part of the video is what would have happened if the documentary camera person
and interviewer did not insist on remaining when they had tricked a young man
into coming to an apartment for a hookup and instead finds himself surrounded
by a group of very hostile anti-gay vigilantes.
Just to point out, it happens in other places as well and
pretty much unchecked and nonstop. After
this paragraph are sample videos from Kyrgyzstan and Jamaica. The top ten in the world “sucks to be gay”
places are Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Uganda, Jamaica, Russia,
Singapore, Northern Cyprus, and
India. The last link has an article on
that titled, 10 Countries That Completely Hate Gay People by Morris M. December
30, 2013.
Morris is a freelance writer
and newly-qualified teacher, still working and hoping to make a difference in his
students' lives. You can send your comments to
his email, or visit some of the other websites that hire him.
Read More:
Kyrgyzstan
Jamaica
Morris M. Article
Additional information is available in an article by Hannah
Jane Parkinson published in the Technology section of The Guardian. The article was published online February
11, 2014.
Especially heartbreaking is
the story of Kirill Maryin, a young teenage boy in Novosibirsk, Russia’s third
largest city. He actually says it is
hopeless for him. Kirill is using a Twitter account,
@ru_lgbt_teen with a picture of an SOS and the bio: “World, help us! I plead you!
History must not happen again!”
My heart breaks and if I could I would go get him now and
bring him to where a child can be safe.
I am not only sad, I am angry.
The Guardian Article
Groups like Human Rights Watch are excellent ways to reach
out and say no to the evil that is released on others who are in the minority
or in a position of weakness and simply cannot fight back. We cannot allow activities such as this to go
unanswered or unchallenged. Scream out, “Hell
no!”
Namaste,
“The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without
conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science
without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles." - Mahatma Gandhi
