Russia has launched an extraordinary attack against the EU for promoting an “alien view of homosexuality and same-sex marriages as a norm of life.”
Criticism of “the aggressive propaganda of homosexual love” is found in the new report on human rights in the EU published Tuesday by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to a report by the news agency RIA Novosti, the English translation of the document refers to gays as “queers” and slams Europe’s “dissemination of their neo-liberal values as a universal lifestyle for all other members of the international community.”
It also notes “a steady growth of xenophobia, racism, violent nationalism, chauvinism and neo-Nazism” in Europe.
A “gay propaganda” ban was enacted in Russia in June and essentially bans displays of homosexuality. It is also “illegal to spread information about non-traditional sexual behaviour” to minors (under 18s).
Signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, the legislation gives the Russian government the right to detain gay or “pro-gay” foreigners up to 14 days before facing expulsion from the country.
There has been growing uproar at the prospect of gay athletes and supporters at Russia’s 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Gamesfacing arrest under the legislation.