VOA标准英语2013--Russia’s Reaction Against Gay Rights Starts in St Petersburg

 

Russia’s Reaction Against Gay Rights Starts in St Petersburg

MOSCOW — Russia has become the worldwide target of gay activists² for its new law banning “gay propaganda.” St. Petersburg is the birthplace of Russia’s reaction against gay rights.

In St. Petersburg, Kirill Kalugin, a gay activist¹, tested Russia’s new ban on gay rallies. He chose national paratroopers’ day -- in front of the world famous Hermitage Museum.

He said being openly gay in Russia is not very safe. But activists get used to feeling unsafe.

Kalugin was protesting Russia’s new law that bans “homosexual propaganda.”

A few blocks away, at the St. Petersburg Legislative³ Assembly, Vitaly Milonov wrote Russia’s first gay propaganda ban.  Now this legislator leads Russia’s reaction against gay rights.  “We do not have enough authority to call a same sex couple a family.  A family is a man and a woman, it's said by God," he assered. "The first society exists from two individuals - Adam and Eve.  It was the first family.”

Far from the protests, Alla Kuzmina, a St. Petersburg business student, said Russians oppose gay rights parades.  “You want to be gay, be gay.  But not walking in lingerie in front of my window, where my 5-year-old kid is looking out the window.” she stated.

Gay rights parades in Europe and the United States increasingly include calls for a boycott⁴ of next February’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Moscow Carnegie Center analyst⁵ Lilia Shevtsova said the Kremlin underestimated the impact of the gay rights issue. “Because they couldn't understand that this predatory law that the Duma passed would raise such a scandal outside, such a huge, powerful wave in the Western world,” she stated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin downplayed the controversy⁶ in an interview he gave this month to the American news agency, The Associated Press.

He said Russia will faithfully follow the Olympic principles of nondiscrimination.

Kalugin, the activist, said this is for foreign consumption.

He said discrimination does exist here, and that Russia’s human rights problem will not be solved as long as Putin remains⁷ in power.

When President Barack Obama visited St. Petersburg in early September, he met with gay and community activists. Among them, Olga Lenkova, works with "Vykhod," or "Coming Out," a gay rights group.   “We were talking about the abuses of human right against LGBT people. We were talking about hate crimes not being properly investigated and prosecuted⁸.  We were talking -- and suggesting to President Obama -- that these issues should be issues of international interest,” she said.

Hours earlier that day, gay rights protesters and their Orthodox Christian⁹ opponents traded chants in a St. Petersburg park. Three months after Russia's gay propaganda ban went into effect, the debate is just heating up -- inside Russia, and outside.  

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

4 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

5 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

6 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。