Russia is lambasted in the western press routinely as a place where the environment is very hostile to homosexuals as well as other "non-traditional" sexual minorities.
Lately, western sources have been
claiming an outright massacre of gays in Russia's Republic of Chechnya, saying they are literally being "rounded up and killed" by the hundreds.
As someone who has lived in Russia for years, I have seen my fair share of gay and lesbian people on the streets.
I have also seen a man wearing a pink dress and make-up riding a bicycle in circles next to the Lubyanka (HQ of Russia's FSB security service). I can't say for sure nothing happened to him, but he was not accosted for the 5-10 minutes I was nearby.
It would be silly to argue "alternative lifestyles" are as openly tolerated in Russia as in the West. Gay parades are banned for example.
But this has more to do with the display of lewd behavior in public, than the fact that the participants are gay.
Enter "Gays for Putin" - a group which wants to hold a rally in Russia's second largest city of Saint Petersburg (also the country's most westernized and liberal city).
Apparently unaware of Vladimir Putin's supposedly appalling record of human rights violations against their community, they want to show their support for the overwhelmingly popular Russian leader's reelection on March 18th.
Comment: ICE: Hard numbers show that 75 percent of illegal immigrants we arrested have criminal records