First let me apologize profusely for allowing every bad thing that has ever happened before, anywhere in the world, that was possibly caused by my up to now reticence, and inaction.
I wasn't aware of the first rule of activism -however armchair it may be- which states, "Anyone attempting to change anything must first be chastised for neglecting every other thing".
After feeling a little less love in my first attempt at discussing this issue than I anticipated, this introduction is meant to head off any comments from people who may wish to tell me how much I've missed, and about all of the opportunities that have been available for me to deal with any number of other human rights problems, whether they're related to LGBT issues or not, that up until now I've ignored.
I get it.
For the time being, my attention and efforts here, and elsewhere on the internet will be devoted to the plight of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gendered persons suffering in Russia.
It's hard enough for me to do one thing at once, I would prefer not to be distracted and discouraged by people who want to harp at me for what I haven't done, while offering up what they feel is bigger fish to fry.
That being said, please proceed to discourage and harp if that's what you prefer to do.
Do you support the United States offering blanket asylum for Russia's LGBT community?
After becoming aware of what was happening in Russia and what the LGBT community there was facing on a daily basis, a situation that is becoming increasingly more dire, I decided to create a petition at Whitehouse.gov
We Petition The Obama Administration To,
Offer blanket asylum to the LGBT community of Russia and try to save as many lives as possible before it's too late.
An attempt to rescue lesbian, gay, and trans-gendered people from the growing anti homosexual movement in Russia which enjoys official endorsement from the government of Vladimir Putin, who was recently quoted saying that homosexuality needed to be "cleansed" from Russian society.
Offer blanket asylum to those who are being targeted and persecuted before they are tortured and murdered en masse under a regime that legitimizes anti gay rhetoric and violence.
Time is running out for the Russian LGBT community, and I believe it's necessary that the United States and other advanced countries take steps to guarantee as many are saved as possible before a modern day pogrom begins.
Please sign this petition asking for blanket asylum for any LGBT person from Russia who seeks help.
I'm always second guessing myself, especially when it comes to writing things down, and if I had taken more time than I did to write the petition it would be worded somewhat differently, but the basic message would still be the same.
The LGBT community in Russia has been targeted for elimination, and it is a now a matter of when murder is going full scale, not if it's going to happen.
I don't even know if offering a general asylum is a viable option from a diplomatic standpoint, but I know that if enough people say it is, it can be. Things are becoming very bad for homosexuals in Russia right now, and even if the
social media site that facilitated things to this point were taken out of play, I'm afraid it's too late to change what's coming, and time is ticking away on the end game of this horrifying trend.
The genie is out of the bottle, all of the pieces are in place, and things are snowballing. (Add your own cliche here)
There is an incredible amount of videos that have been uploaded by people throughout Russia that depict the torture and abuse of young homosexual men trying to make a friend, and I recommend you take the time to watch one or two if you doubt where things are heading, or if you're suffering under the impression that this movement has anything to do with pedophilia. Other than the fact that it's a wonderful meme to begin your purge with.
I keep bouncing from video to video trying to find one that ends well, with a victim being released without too much injury, but I haven't been able to get any closure regarding the fate of these kids. They all seem to end just as things get worse for those held, and they give the impression that things went downhill after the editor decided to cut it short.
Couple this with the fact that the activist community in Russia (which is filled with some of the bravest people walking around anywhere) can't make contact with the majority of the victims, and the questions of who they are and how they're doing aren't being answered.
Even if they manage to survive their encounters with this activated army of hooligans, the emotional trauma these people have undergone drives them to withdraw from society, and they basically shut down their lives, becoming reclusive after they've been fired from their job, or expelled from their school. After being outed and abused on camera for all of their friends and family to see, they completely withdraw as they deal with the feelings people deal with after they've been humiliated and chewed up by a pack of their peers, and in the worst cases they are driven to commit suicide.
I don't think it's too much to ask that we provide an alternative to the members of Russia's LGBT community who don't have the means to emigrate on their own.
I'm sure it isn't difficult for anyone to imagine what would happen here if a similar law was passed, and if President Palin, with the backing of religious institutions, and a complicit media spent her time telling the base that it was time to leave the children alone/cut the tall trees, and cleanse our country of undesirables.
There's a certain segment of our own population that would be geared up, and more than a little willing to begin cleansing Amerkah of all the sinners our government has identified and sanctioned for them. The parallels throughout history that have shown what happens in these situations are inarguable.
Many people will be killed. However, the question of how many it will be is something that can still be manipulated, and this petition is my attempt to try to keep that number down.
I believe that offering asylum to any Russians affected by the anti propaganda law is the best solution, because I don't think any amount of protests or international condemnation will avert a full scale version of the violence that's already occurring, and reaching the point where saving as many as possible is the only option is getting increasingly closer.
If you agree that the United States taking the lead on this human rights issue is something that should be done, even if your degree of enthusiasm is only at the, "It couldn't hurt" level, please take a few minutes and sign the petition to offer asylum.