Putin slammed Thursday cancel culture and transgender rights supporters.
Russian President suggested that teaching children gender fluidity is a "crime against humanity."
Putin's anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies have been widely condemned.
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According to The Washington Post, Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked "cancel culture" as well as supporters of transgender rights. He suggested that teaching gender fluidity was a "crime against mankind" while insisting that Russia should preserve its "spiritual and historical traditions."
Putin spoke at the Valdai Discussion Club, Sochi, and stated that some Westerners believe that "the aggressive deletions of whole pages in their own history, reverse discrimination towards the majority in the interest of minorities constitute movement towards public renewal."
"It's their right. But we ask them to stay away from our home. Putin stated that he had a different view.
Russian leader and whose opponents were often killed or imprisoned, likened cancel culture to reverse racism. He stated that the "emphasizing the racial topic" divides people.
According to Rachel E. Greenspan, Insider digital culture reporter, cancel culture refers to "the idea that people too often pile on others for their bad behavior." This concept, which some claim doesn't exist, is being brought up more often by right-wing media outlets such as Fox News, in connection to the ongoing discussion on racism in America. Many people consider reverse racism a myth. It is the belief that white people can experience discrimination based on race.
On Thursday, Putin also stated that teaching children that a boy can be a girl and vice versa is a crime against humanity. He suggested that transgender rights supporters were asking for the end of basic things like mother, father, or gender differences.
Other world leaders and top human rights organizations have condemned the Russian president for his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies.
Putin's chauvinism, machismo and charm are similar to other strongmen leaders. They try to be tough to connect with voters and appeal to them. In photos, the Russian leader often appears shirtless.
"Strongmen are an authoritarian subset who demand total loyalty, bend democracy around their own needs and use different forms machismo in order to interact with their people, and with other rulers. It's more than vanity and narcissism when Putin pulls off his shirt and bares his chest. It's a tool for political legitimacy," Ruth Ben-Ghiat of New York University, who has written extensively about strongmen leaders, said to Time last November.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides on a horse while on vacation in Southern Siberia, Kyzyl. Alexey Druzhinin/Getty Images
As part of his efforts to gain support from his conservative base, Putin signed an anti-gay propaganda law in 2013. Human Rights Watch decried the law and highlighted that LGBTQ youth in Russia face formidable obstacles to their fundamental rights to dignity.
The European Convention on Human Rights' top court ruled in July that Russia violated the European Convention on Human Rights when it refused to legalize same-sex marriages. "This historic decision highlights that the Russian government has been on the wrong side history, supporting and encouraging homophobia, and depriving LGBTI people their basic human rights," Natalia Zviagina (director of Amnesty International’s Moscow Office) said in a statement. The Kremlin responded to the ruling by declaring that the Russian government does not allow same-sex marriages.
In September, President Joe Biden made his first address to UN since he entered the White House. He called out Chechnya (a Russian region) for its treatment of LGBTQ persons. Biden stated that everyone must protect the rights of LGBTQI people so they can love and live freely without fear, no matter where they are located (Chechnya, Cameroon, or anywhere else). In Chechnya, gay men have been tortured and even imprisoned numerous times in recent years.
