Jakarta Globe – AFP, Anna Malpas, November 8, 2013
A gay rights activists takes part in a joint opposition rally called “March against Hatred” in the Russia’s second city of St. Petersburg, on November 2, 2013. (AFP Photo/Olga Maltseva) |
Moscow. US
television host Thomas Roberts, who is in Moscow to present Miss Universe
contest and is openly gay, has condemned Russia’s homophobic legislation in
what he called dark times for the country.
“The
Russian laws obviously are a dark time and a dark chapter in LGBT history
here,” Roberts told AFP after arriving in Moscow with his husband ahead of the
Miss Universe final on Saturday.
“They’re
seeking a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist and meanwhile it causes new
problems because it allows people to abuse and hurt and vilify the LGBT
community under the guise of some propaganda law that’s just ridiculous.”
The co-host
of Saturday’s Miss Universe final married his partner last year after publicly
coming out in 2006. He hosts “MSNBC Live”, a daily news show.
President
Vladimir Putin in June signed a law banning promotion of homosexuality to
minors that has prompted international outrage and fears that its wording can
be used to outlaw any gay pride event.
Similar
laws had previously been passed at local level in several cities.
“These laws
represent the fact that the government is seeking a solution for a problem that
doesn’t really exist. There really is no reason to demonize the LGBT [lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender] population,” said Roberts.
“In this
atmosphere here we’re seeing the problem with homophobia being condoned and
these laws actually allowing people to be victimized.”
Among the
celebrities to criticize the gay rights situation in Russia are US pop stars
Madonna and Lady Gaga. Openly gay British actor Stephen Fry called for Russia
to be barred from holding the Olympics in Sochi.
Roberts is
co-hosting Miss Universe after its regular co-host Andy Cohen, who is also gay,
pulled out, saying he was not comfortable with coming to Russia because of the
law.
Roberts
said on his show on Tuesday that he had faced accusations of being a “LGBT
sellout” for not boycotting the event in Moscow.
He came to
show his “support of the LGBT community in Russia… as a journalist, an anchor
and a man who happens to be gay,” he said in a statement.
Russian
opposition activist and television host Ksenia Sobchak on Thursday praised
Roberts for his decision to come and “show an example.”
“I was
never a fan of Miss Universe but now I will be,” she wrote on Twitter.
Roberts
said he did not know whether his orientation would be mentioned during Miss
Universe.
“If it does
[come up] — great. If people and the viewers at home that are watching learn
more about me and know that I’m married and my husband is here, I think that’s
fantastic.
“I don’t
know if I’m here to promote gay rights, I think I’m here to promote that people
like me deserve equal rights, because we are no different than any one else,”
Roberts said.
Roberts has
regularly covered gay rights in Russia on his show.
He
criticized what he called a “disturbing trend” for US conservatives to advise
Russian lawmakers on gay issues.
In October,
a discredited American psychologist, Paul Cameron, advised a parliamentary
roundtable in Russia.
Writing on
Twitter, a Russian lawmaker quoted Cameron as saying that statistics showed 15
percent of gay people thought it was OK to have sex with children aged under
15.
But Roberts
said that he believed the fact that US conservatives were turning to Russia
proved their strategy had failed at home.
Such
attempts “to try to enact homophobic laws only prove how much they’re failing
back in the US,” he said.
Agence France-Presse
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