Thatcher: Prude Juice

The former Conservative minister Michael Portillo has said that Margaret Thatcher was more “liberal” about homosexuality than many would imagine.

Speaking on This Week, the ex-deputy Conservative Party leader said: “Many people would have an impression of Margaret Thatcher as a great prude – actually she wasn’t”.

“She was rather liberal on sexual matters. For example, she was surrounded by gay people amongst her advisers.”

After Andrew Neil probed him about whether Baroness Thatcher was conscious of this, Portillo replied: “Oh yes, she knew”. 

Under Baroness Thatcher’s reign, the Conservatives prohibited the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools via the introduction of Section 28 in 1988...

The Independent.

Sake.

Hysteria Watch: Islamism Is The New Paedo Panic

Convicted terrorists and other extremists will be put on a register that mirrors the vetting regime used by authorities to check if a person has a conviction for child sex abuse.

It will ensure they are ‘automatically banned from working with children… in the same way as individuals convicted of sexual offences against children’, a Downing Street official said last night.

During a party conference speech earlier this month, the Prime Minister warned that ‘passive tolerance’ of extremism and a failure to make Muslim communities integrate had put Britain’s children in ‘danger’.

Today he will say the ‘stakes are rising’ and Britain can no longer ‘turn a blind eye’ to fanatics who are brainwashing children to take part in terrorism or become jihadis...

Daily Mail.

All sounds a bit Section 28 to me.

And rather McCarthyite.

How long before Tom Watson starts naming and shaming perfectly innocent people?

Russia: Not Uniquely Bad Shock

If Russia is not unique in its failings on gay rights, nor is Putin quite the singular villain he is so often presented as. Before the Sochi Winter Olympics he insisted that he was not homophobic, that he knew gay people and had gay individuals in his administration. In much of Europe that might sound tame, but for a Russian leader to say that in public was quite a departure. Outside the biggest cities, the Russian public, like the Russian Orthodox church, is deeply conservative.

It is also worth noting that the Russian law regularly cited as evidence of institutionalised homophobia is little different from the UK’s notorious section 28, which banned the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. When was section 28 repealed? In Scotland in 2000, and three years later elsewhere. We then traversed the path from section 28 to civil partnership and now gay marriage in just 12 years.

So, if – and why not be optimistic and say when – Sir Elton John meets Vladimir Putin, their discussion could be longer and more serious than the singer expects. And John might also learn that it is not primarily Putin’s mind he needs to change, but that of the wider public – as in Ukraine, and many other countries besides. So let him take his music to Red Square, bring his family along, and appeal to the fans directly. Putin would probably not come and sing along – despite his apparent love of crooning – but he might just sneak a look from behind a Kremlin curtain.

Mary Dejevsky, The Guardian.

No, lady! Russia is uniquely evil and we must never stop going on about it coz Empire and brainwashing.

That is why they have banned Sir Elton John!

Oh, hang on, they haven't...

Ivan Massow: Questions To Which The Answer Is No

Pink News.

Fink it was mainly cause even your beloved Tory Party fink you're bleedin' hopeless, Ivana.

DUMPED BY TEXT!!!

PS At least he could count on the loyal support of fellow gay Tory, Iain Dale; 'Delusional... creepy... buttock-clenchingly awful' etc. Check out the least convincing Cockernee accent since Dick Van Dyke below.

Pride: If Only

Pink News.

Brighton Pride.

So why not ban these cunts?

Pro gay marriage and anti Russia - the two tickboxes of the new gay right.

Yay!

Fuck 'em.

PS Fagburn made a half-arsed half-cut attempt to kick over the gay Tory stall the first time they showed up at Brighton Pride, while screeching 'That's for Section 28!'.

Thatcher: Anti

"I wanted to start this project because I think there’s going to be a serious need to counteract the whitewashed version of Thatcher’s legacy the official museum will present." says Darren [Cullen].

"It’s unlikely the official museum will address Thatcher’s unflinching support for brutal regimes like the Khmer Rouge In Cambodia, Augusto Pinochet in Chile or apartheid South Africa. They’re not going to talk about Thatcher’s implementation of the first anti-gay law in 100 years, Section 28, which was almost identical to Russia’s recent anti-LGBT law."

"They won’t address how Thatcher oversaw two recessions, massive levels of unemployment, raising poverty and inequality, the devastation of UK manufacturing, deregulation of banks, the Poll Tax and the privatisation of everything from basic utilities to social housing" ...

Vote Conservative: Labour Camp

Conservative party poster, 1987 general election. Via @anyabike. x

Tony Benn: Remember

Click to enlarge.

Tony Benn died a year ago today.

In the above he warns parliament about Section 28.

Thanks to Calum S. x

Fagburn: Catch-Up

Regular viewers may know Fagburn is currently spending his weekends away, smuggling AK-47s to the brave anti-fascist freedom fighters in east Ukraine.

So sometimes, at best, all you may get up is a round-up of the most THRILLING news.

So here is a piece in The Independent that ticked all my boxes.

1. It's written by that leading gay intellectual of our age, Patrick Strudwick! See also Patrick's groundbreaking article; 'It is time for my bedroom curtains to stop being homophobic!'
#stoptthegayhatecurtains *

2. It's about Ian McKellen - of hilarious ITV gay sitcom, Vicious, fame! He is like super old and was in Lord Of The Rings, so whatever he says goes.

3. They talk about THEGAYSINSPORT! - always makes for an interesting article that. Is it the last taboo? etc etc.

4. They plug that calendar by those rather plain, but pukingly posh boys from the NAKEDWARWICKROWINGCLUB! But they love The Gays! Phwoar.

5. Gareth Thomas! Yay! He played rugby and now he gay! ibid. And he man! Not like the rubbish gay gays. Exciting times!

6. The bible. Always worth discussing what this holy book has to say about bumming, or indeed about anything, really. Historical facts? Rational thought? Meh. Fagburn will now consult his pet monkey spinning on an ouija board to see what he thinks.

Night.
x

* Strudwick - an expert on gay politics - writes of the 'near comically villainous [sic] Section 28, gagging teachers from discussing homosexuality'. Err, it didn't, dear.

Apology Of The Week: Norman Fowler

Margaret Thatcher's health minister today apologised for the controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act as he backed a campaign to make sex education — including lessons on gay relationships — compulsory in schools.

Lord Fowler told the Evening Standard: “We have come a long way. It [Section 28] was a great mistake and I think it’s now recognised as a great mistake and I would apologise for it. It was totally misjudged.”

Lord Fowler was part of the Eighties Government that brought in the ban on schools from promoting homosexuality as a “normal family relationship”. The law was repealed in 2003.

He has signed a letter calling for sex education to be made statutory and suitable for both heterosexual and homosexual students.

The letter, written by gay rights campaigners, warned that children will get their sex education from internet pornography unless they are taught it by qualified teachers.

Lord Fowler, who was behind the Don’t Die Of Ignorance Aids information campaign in the Eighties, said properly taught school lessons could “torpedo inaccurate and sensationalised information” children come across online...Evening Standard.

And it only took a quarter of a century to realise this...

That same-sex SRE open letter in full.

And finally... Norman Fowler's recent book, Aids: Don't Die Of Prejudice.

BBC TV News: Making It

Nicholas Witchell is not talking about the Queen when he recalls the incident which, along with an icy encounter with her eldest son, has come to define his career in broadcasting. "I lowered myself gently astride the dear lady," he says. "You could hear all these muffled cries and groans. I think it came as a shock to us both."

It came as a shock, too, to poor Sue Lawley, who had to read the headlines while Witchell wrestled a gay rights protester under the desk beside her, clamping his hand against her mouth. A second woman had also invaded the studio at the swing of the final bong, handcuffing herself to the camera. It wobbled slightly as Lawley kept going. 'BEEB MAN SITS ON LESBIAN', the Mirror's front page screamed the next day.

It was 1988 and Witchell was on top of his game...

Nicholas Witchell recalls in The Independent when BBC One's Six O'Clock News was invaded by two lesbians protesting against Section 28.

BBC TV News celebrates its 60th anniversary today - surely this was its finest minute?

PS Here's the audio from the gallery; 'Oh fucking hell, there's some nutter in the studio! Get him out!' sic etc.

Leon Brittan: What The Dickens?

Downing Street is facing fresh calls for an inquiry into allegations of child sex abuse among politicians after it emerged that Lord Brittan, a former home secretary, was given a dossier containing claims of Westminster paedophile activity in the 1980s.

Brittan is under scrutiny over his handling of the scandal after he said he was passed a "bundle" of claims by the former MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983 and gave it to his officials to investigate.

Last year the Tory peer said he could not remember getting the dossier, but on Wednesday he released a statement saying he could now recollect a meeting with Dickens. He said he had asked officials to look into the claims and could not remembering hearing any more about it.

Sunday Mirror, December 2013.

But his account was undermined by a Home Office review from last year that found Brittan wrote to Dickens in 1984 saying the material was assessed as being worth pursuing by the director of public prosecutions and was "passed to the appropriate authorities".

Brittan released a second statement saying he had only just been made aware of the Home Office review from last summer, which proved that "appropriate action" had been taken. He said the report was "entirely consistent" with the action he set out in his first statement.

Earlier the Labour MP Simon Danczuk challenged Brittan to "share his knowledge" about the file prepared by Dickens. It contained information about the "Paedophile Information Exchange (Pie), about paedophiles operating a network within and around Westminster," Danczuk told the home affairs committee...

The Guardian.

Geoffrey Dickens - obsessed much?

Oh Mr Brittan, what tangled webs we weave. 

Politics watchers of a certain age may recall there was one senior member of the Thatcher government who was often rumoured to be a paedophile - though no evidence was ever given (Private Eye believed it was probably a far-right MI5 smear campaign).

They may also recall that the late Geoffrey Dickens MP was a notoriously nasty and obsessive homophobe. He also seemed to think Britain was in the grip of some secret homosexual conspiracy; 'I've got eight names of big people, really important names, public figures. And I am going to expose them in Parliament.
'One of these people is a friend of mine, but you have to be merciless protecting the young. These people must not be allowed to get away with it just because they are important in public life.'

He often tried to claim there was an obvious connection between paedpohilia and homosexuality.

This homo-hating hysteria helped pave the way for the introduction of Section 28.* 

Dickens promised to name his paedophile politicos using parliamentary privilege, but strangely never did.

Fagburn wouldn't by surprised if Mr Dickens' dossier was so dodgy and unconvincing in its accusations that anyone who read it thought it should be filed under 'B For Bonkers' and ignored it. 

*See Stephen Jeffrey-Poulter: Peers, Queers & Commons.: The struggle for gay law reform from 1950 to the present. 

The Independent: The Return Of Section 28

Although the hook here appears to be an NUT vote story, one wonders if the Independent are aware they first reported on  about this research by the British Humanist Assocation last August?

And the following day the BHA reported that already; 'a large number of the schools concerned have removed the relevant statements or have committed to reviewing their policies.
'The BHA is aware that the majority of the schools have removed or revised their sex and relationships education policies.'

So you could say it's gone down...

Daily Mail: Russian Gay Propaganda Laws Bad, British Ones Good

Russian President Vladimir Putin says gays should feel welcome at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, but they must 'leave the children in peace'.
Mr Putin told volunteers today that gays visiting Sochi 'can feel calm and at ease,' and vowed that there would be no discrimination at the games.
But he emphasised that, according to a law banning homosexual 'propaganda' among minors, gays cannot express their views on gay rights issues to anyone under age...

The Daily Mail is LIVID about this!
What an incredible gay insult from the evil Russian bear!

Erm, older readers may recall the Mail was one of the strongest and most odious supporters of Britain's Section 28 - another "law banning homosexual 'propaganda' to minors."

Of course, one could say that's all in the past. 

Long, long ago.

Different times.

But have a look at the Mail Online's search engine and try and figure out when the homophobic hypocrites at the Mail ever stopped.

Why a cynic might think their supposed concern for LGBT Rights in Russia is a load of baloney and a crude propaganda exercise...

Video: Edward Herman, Conservative forces, purportedly struggling for human rights, have captured and neutralised the Left.

Elton John: Get Back To Russia

Russian promoters have insisted two Elton John shows "will go ahead as planned" despite concerns over the country's crackdown on gay rights.

In June President Vladimir Putin signed a national law banning the "propaganda of homosexuality" to minors.

Sir Elton vowed last month to raise the issue on stage when he plays tonight's sold out date in Moscow and a show in the Volga city of Kazan on Saturday.

The singer said he also planned to "meet with the LGBT community" there. 

Russian promoters, SAV Entertainment, issued a statement reassuring fans that the two shows would be going ahead.

"Despite the groundless rumours spread by the internet and media that Elton John's concerts in Russia could be cancelled, the organiser assures you that Elton John's shows in Moscow and Kazan will go ahead as planned," it said.

Last month, the British singer told CNN that he was "going to say something from the stage that's... going to be meaningful". 

BBC News.

Nonsense: From who else but The Independent!

Erm, did anyone seriously think there was any chance these concerts would be cancelled?
Apart from all the usual gay hysterics - and the ever woeful Independent, natch >>> - who literally have no idea what's actually going on in Russia right now, and think it's JUST LIKE NAZI GERMANY!!?
I GIVE UP!!!

PS Here's what Elton John said onstage in Moscow on Friday night...

You took me to your hearts all these years ago and you’ve always welcomed me with warmth and open arms any time I’ve visited. You have always embraced me and you have never judged me. So I am deeply saddened and shocked over the current legislation that is now in place against the LGBT community here in Russia. In my opinion, it is inhumane and it is isolating. People have demanded that because of this legislation, I must not come here to Russia. But many, many more people asked me to come and I listened to them. I love coming here.

I want to show them and the world that I care and that I don’t believe in isolating people. Music is a very powerful thing. It brings people together irrespective of their age, their race, their sexuality, or their religion. It does not discriminate. Look around you tonight. You see men, women, young and old, gay and straight. Thousands of Russia people enjoying the music. We’re all here together in harmony and harmony is what makes a happy family and a strong society.

The spirit we share tonight is what builds a future of equality, love and compassion for my children and for your children. Please don’t leave it behind when you leave tonight. Each and every one of you please, keep this spirit in your life and in your heart. I wish you love and peace and health and happiness. And this show is dedicated to the memory of Vladislav Tornovoi.

Nicely put.
Here's a blurry long distance smartphone video of it.

Thanks for coming/going, sir.

Read more on the murder of Vladislav Tornovoi here.

PS I'd like to add some quotes from Sir Elton where he spoke out against Britain's Section 28 - so please send these in. 

Conservatives: Aliens

The Conservative Party cannot win a majority unless it wins around young people by “shouting from the rooftops” about liberal policies like gay marriage, a Tory minister has said.

Nick Boles, an ally of David Cameron, said that the Conservatives will struggle to win a Commons majority because “a significant number of people will not even contemplate voting Conservative”.

Because the Conservative Party image still repels many voters, the party should consider running candidates under a new National Liberal banner, Mr Boles said.

The minister was a strong supporter of Mr Cameron’s attempts to modernise the image of the Conservative Party and reach out to new voters. His comments reflect concern among senior Tories that the modernisation project has stalled in recent years.

Speaking to the Bright Blue Tory think tank, Mr Boles said that young voters will only back the Conservatives if they highlight their socially liberal policies including allowing gay marriage.

“The Conservative Party will only win office on its own when it has established beyond doubt its commitment to the advance of freedom and found the courage to stake its claim as the party that all liberals should vote for," he said.

“This new group of voters represents a fantastic opportunity for our party. But we have no hope of securing their support if we approach them with the same proposition that we use to woo our stalwart supporters.” 

Mr Boles said that the Conservatives should campaign among young voters by emphasising policies like gay marriage, free schools and tax cuts for low earners.

“We should not shy away from those achievements but shout them from the rooftops. They should make us proud,” he said. “Having taken the pain, not to be proud of them is completely pointless.”

Daily Telegraph.

How MPs voted then and now...

PS Alex Massie in The Spectator replies - with links to what various other right-wing types think.

"Nick thinks being a bit wary of gay marriage and opposing immigration is toxic' to voters. That can only mean one thing to me.

"He’s never, actually, met a voter in his life."

Rod Liddle, The Sun. 

His point is most voters "couldn’t give a monkey’s one way or the other".
Sort of.

Schools: That's So Gay!

Nearly all homosexual [!] teenagers say they hear the word "gay" being used as an insult, according to research carried out by Stonewall.

Of the 1,600 pupils interviewed 99% said they had heard homophobic language used regularly.

Eighty-four per cent said they were upset by gay being used as an insult.

Gay, lesbian and transgender [sic] charity Stonewall is launching a poster campaign this week, fronted by Will Young, to tackle the problem.

Copies of the new posters and guidance are being sent to around half of all secondary schools in England, Scotland and Wales.

Wayne Dhesi, from Stonewall, says school children need to be taught that misusing the word gay is wrong.

"People hear phrases such as, 'That's so gay' and 'You're so gay' being used to describe something that's negative or defective," he said.

"It perpetuates the stereotype that being gay, lesbian or bisexual is somehow wrong..."

BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat report on Stonewall's latest campaign.

Fagburn quite likes the slogan above - but fears that it may go way over the heads of many of the people it's aimed at.
As may the other two;  ‘Gay. Let’s Get the Meaning Straight’, and ‘Your So Gay. Can You Spot the Two Common Mistakes?’

Also, is Will "Nice But Dim" Young, the ridiculously posh privately-educated 34 year-old the right man to front a campaign to talk wiv ver kids?

He told the Independent in 2009; "What was great about private school for me is that we were taught the importance of manners, [and] traditional values and basic decency were definitely promoted."

Maybe Mr Not-so Young believes homophobia is a terribly common mistake?

PS Will Young in the TES! If nothing else, it proves that going to a good public school teaches you the skill of speaking with absolute authority, even if you're saying something rather banal.

PPS And finally... School's Out has declared today The Pink Promotion: "To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the repeal of Section 28, the law which banned the ‘promotion’ and ‘publication’ of anything supporting a LGBT ‘pretend lifestyle’ we would like everyone in the UK to wear pink, the symbol of diversity..."
Let me know if you see absolutely anyone at all wearing pink today.

PS And inevitably... an article asking if kids are always being homophobic when they say "gay".
Inevitably it's by contrarian clickbait machine, Brendan O'Neill on the Telegraph blog; Gay now means rubbish. Get over it.
But even he admits; "Even Stonewall’s own report on the widespread use of the word gay in schools admits that “most of the time it is used unconsciously and without hurtful intent”.

Edit: Forgot the Daily Telegraph is the only newspaper that still tells writers to use the word "homosexual", not "gay". Irony...

Gaydwin's Law: From The Message Boards

Gaydwin's Law: After any news story about Russia in the gay media, within two minutes someone will post; "THIS IS EXACTLY HOW HITLER STARTED!!!"

Professor Fagburn, after Godwin's Law.

Sadly, while Mike Godwin said bringing the Nazis into an online discussion meant that person had lost the argument and the thread was finished, with Gaydwin's Law writing something like the above is seen as a serious, intelligent and useful contribution to debate.
Further, as Russia's "gay propaganda" law is so similar to Britain's Section 28, it would be better to type; "THIS IS EXACTLY HOW THATCHER STARTED!!!"

PS My new week's resolution is to spend less time arguing with idiots.

Russia: Another Country

Today gay America is mightily pissed over this video.
RUSSIA BOO HISS!!! etc etc.
Can you believe it!?
Nobody knows who made it - or if it was actually made by Russians, anyone could have thrown this old cobblers together on a laptop in half-an-hour. 
Although only an idiot would see one crappy little homemade video as being representative of an entire nation, it is offered up as further evidence that Russia today is exactly like Nazi Germany/Apartheid South Africa (delete as hysterical) - comparisons that are as morally obscene as they are ludicrous - and uniquely evil in how it treats gay people.
But its "arguments" - that homosexuals are carriers of disease, die early, want to rape your kids (that's why they want to adopt them), and are taking over the nation etc etc - are exactly the same sort of nonsense that American rightwing and/or Christians regularly come up with (eg the charming booklet below).
Indeed, many of its "facts" are lifted straight from this American Christian tract.
And it acknowledges a laughable "study" by anti-gay Catholic loonbag, Mark Regnerus, who claimed one in three kids adopted by gay men were sexually abused - again an American.
Perhaps then the video tells us as much about the sickness in the American body politic?
Just as how the new "gay propaganda" law so closely echoing Britain's Section 28 says much about our own moral low ground.
Can't happen here...

The video was "newly discovered" - and posted on YouTube (purely coincidentally!) - by the rightwing self-styled "liberal" gay blogger, John Aravosis, who runs AMERICAblog. - their touching patriotic slogan: 'A Great Nation Deserves Equality'.
Aravosis - "I got involved in gay politics 20 years ago in order to win the right to serve in the military, have a job, and get married..." - is the source for many of the scare stories about Russia's anti-gay "pogrom", along with Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe, and Voice Of America - all are rightwing propaganda media funded by the American state.
They are usually obediently repeated, unquestioned, unchecked - for in the current climate anyone can get away with writing any old bollocks about Russia.
The credulity of so many people to these media reports is thoroughly depressing, but sadly - as a cursory look through this blog shows - this is endemic to our culture.
I wouldn't be surprised to read in the gay media soon that; 'PUTIN EATS GAY BABIES!', with the usual caveats; "allegedley", "reportedly" etc.
Aravosis is so angry about what's happening right now he's started a subsite, Gay Russia.- a veritable mine of disinformation.
(The only other hot topic he thinks deserves its own subsite is "Putin's puppet" Syria).
Note how the two other loudest voices shouting about the plight of LGBT Russians are the far-right Zionist porn mogul, Michael Lucas, and the equally politically dodgy HomoCon/NeoCon, Jamie Kirchick, who famously hijacked a live TV debate about Chelsea Manning to rant about Russia while wearing rainbow "suspenders".
(Dan Savage who instigated the Boycott Sochi campaign - against a vodka that's not actually Russian - is seen as a "progressive" - but his last major foray into international politics was the "lefty" and liberal-bashing, 'Say YES To War On Iraq').
Seems the gay right are still living out their Cold War wet dreams.

Anti-gay propaganda from America the beautiful

The latter act - or rather self-publicity stunt - by James Kirchick is surely the neo-imperial mindset defined - where someone literally ignores the great crimes being committed by their own country, and fumes about those of its power rivals.
As is the tendency by westerners to think they know best about what to do, while ignoring what LGBT Russians are saying.
(Note also how often neo-colonialist Orientalist rhetoric appears that Russians are "backward", "uncivilised" etc - ah, the thankless western gay white man's burden). 
Witness what happens whenever someone on a messageboard points out LGBT Russian groups have asked people NOT to boycott.
Simply stating this obvious and important fact can get you compared to a holocaust denier.
An oft repeated post is some variation on "This is exactly how Hitler started!" - as preposterous and offensive as saying any discriminatory legislation is the first step on the road to Auschwitz, and as silly as saying drinking Earl Grey tea will inevitably lead to heroin addiction.
[Edit: It's just as common to be accused of supporting Putin or being a homophobe, if you challenge or correct an untruth here].
The debate has become so debased - and so many commentators are so indoctrinated, so oblivious to facts - it often seems pointless to enter into any discussion.

Yesterday, John McCain, the Republican party presidential candidate, slammed the Russian bogeyman in a widely-circulated op-ed.
He - but of course - highlighted how; "They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn."
This is somewhat odd, to say the least, as a senator McCain has always opposed any gay equality initiatives.
Ever get the feeling you're being used?
Perhaps it was a joke, and he was being ironic?
For he also wrote; "[Putin] is not enhancing Russia's global reputation. He is destroying it. He has made her a friend to tyrants and an enemy to the oppressed, and untrusted by nations that seek to build a safer, more peaceful and prosperous world."
Could any rational, intelligent, informed person hear an American politician saying any of that without risking dieing laughing?

Manufacturing Discontent

Sophisticated political satire.

It is heartening and moving that so many people in the west are angry about the oppression of gay people in Russia, and are expressing solidarity.
Though it often seems like an outbreak of whipped-up mass hysteria, akin to 1984's Hate Week, usually expressed in "passive activism"; actions that are pointless (clicktivism), and/or counterproductive (boycotts).
Or like a little outburst of over-emotional collective insanity much as that we witnessed when Princess Diana died.
All too often this does not look like some queer political re-awakening, but further proof of the depoliticisation of our culture.
But people can not be blamed for reaching for their pink pitchforks and torches when they've been subject to the sort of avalanche of media misinformation we normally only witness in wartime.
It is foolish and politically blind not to question why this has now become such an issue - warranting endless, blanket coverage, to the virtual exclusion of other countries' often far worse gay rights abuses - at a time when tensions between the US and Russia are at their most heightened since the Cold War.  
And it is obvious that the increasingly hysterical, hyperbolic and hypocritical "debate" has been hijacked, and is being used - meaning our struggle for gay rights is being used - as rightwing propaganda, by demonising a declared enemy in service to American hegemony.
USA! USA! USA!

Pink News: All Hail William Hague!

Foreign Secretary William Hague has spoken out against anti-gay laws in Russia to say that Britain’s foreign policy must have “a conscience”, and that it is in the nature of Britain to “stand up for human rights overseas.”
The interview with the Evening Standard comes a day after it was confirmed that David Cameron will raise the issue of the Russian law banning the promotion of “non-traditional relationships”, with Russian President Vladimir Putin, when he travels to St Petersburg for the G20 this week.*
Mr Hague said that Britain had “moved the dial”, on other human rights issues such as sexual violence in conflict areas, and on Russia, said: “It is important to us. Britain cannot have a foreign policy without a conscience and I don’t believe it is ultimately in the nature of British people to act without a conscience. I wrote a book about William Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade, which was not in the self-interest of Britain, but was right.”

Pink News.

Err, this is the same William "Let's bomb Syria!" Hague who famously was opposed to the repeal of Section 28 - the act that inspired the new Russian law - and was against gay adoption - like what they don't have in Russia now - yes?
Similarly laudatory moronic article on Gay Star News - no surprises there.
It is not clear from the Evening Standard interview if the noted judo-wrestling and hotel room-sharing politician even mentioned The Gays.
I increasingly feel Fagburn has turned into Ed Reardon and am now resigned to my fate of fuming that much of the gay news media is written by politically illiterate 12 year-olds. 
Oh the despair...

* This hasn't been confirmed yet, some MEP tweeted it. But if you believe everything you read on Twitter, then Nelson Mandela died twelve times last week.