Putin mocks LGBT flag at US embassy
Russian President Vladimir Putin over Fri mocked a rainbow LGBT pride flag hung from the US embassy on Moscow, suggesting it reflected found on the orientation of the diplomats.
Throughout a televised video conference, a lawmaker advised Putin that the united states embassy possessed hung a rainbow flag upon its facade designed for the very first time to celebrate Pride month in June.
"Who works found in this construction?" Putin asked the loudspeaker, Senator Alexei Pushkov, to find out "Americans."
"Permit them celebrate. They've displayed a particular something about the persons who work there," he added with a smile.
Putin on Fri signed amendments to the constitution backed by a national vote that add a clause on matrimony being between a guy and a woman, targeted at avoiding legalisation of gay unions.
The president said Fri however that Russia does not discriminate against people based on sexual orientation.
He said a laws banning advertising of homosexual associations to minors, which he signed found in 2013 to a storm of international condemnation aimed only to avoid the "foisting" of such associations on children.
The law has been used as a pretext to ban gay pride events.
"Let a good person grow up, turn into an adult and decide his private path himself. You merely shouldn't impose anything," Putin insisted.
He said that "those that attack us upon this basis are simply trying to break down an open door."
A good conservative politician who heads the Union of Females of Russia warned Putin that billboards were utilizing rainbow imagery to market ice-cream.
"It's indirect but yet it forces our kids to get used to the colours, to the flag that many people are hanging up, even on that embassy," said Yekaterina Lakhova.
US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan found in a video recording on Twitter on June 25 said "our embassy is displaying the rainbow flag in solidarity," wishing Russians a "happy Pride."
On June 27, he and ambassadors from four other countries including Britain produced a affirmation urging the Russian authorities to handle its obligations to safeguard the legal rights of LGBT people.
The Uk embassy in Moscow also flew a rainbow flag.
The flag on the united states embassy, an imposing setting up on a significant road, became a target for homophobic protests.
Participants of Sorok Sorokov, a conservative Orthodox Christian group, videoed themselves trampling on a good rainbow flag on the pavement before the building.
An Orthodox Church spokesman slammed the flag while disrespectful of Russians' values.
Many however snapped selfies before the flag to signal their support for gay rights.
"The pride flag on the united states embassy has turned into a landmark," wrote entertainment internet site Afisha.ru.
Russia decriminalised homosexuality found in 1993. - AFP
