Russian President Vladimir Putin mocked the United States embassy in Moscow on Friday, which had hung a rainbow flag, a symbol of the gay struggle, on its facade in late June.
During a video conference, responding to a deputy who pointed out to him that the embassy had hung the flag for “Pride Month,” Vladimir Putin asked with a smile, “Who works in this building?”
“Let’s let them celebrate. This says something about the people who work there,” he continued, according to television.
The Russian president signed on Friday the constitutional amendments approved by the Russians during a referendum, including the institution of marriage as the union between a man and a woman, which actually prohibits same-sex marriage.
However, on Friday, Vladimir Putin assured that his country did not discriminate against anyone based on their sexual orientation and that the 2013 law, which prohibited homosexual “propaganda” among minors, limited itself to preventing those relationships from “being imposed” on children.
Ekaterina Lakhova, a senator from the ruling party known for her conservative ideas, denounced that the colors of the rainbow flag were used to sell ice cream. “It is indirect, but it forces our children to get used to the colors, to the flag that everyone flies, even in this embassy,” he said.
The United States Ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, said on Twitter on June 25 that “our embassy unfolds the rainbow flag in solidarity,” accompanied by a video of the flag hanging on the facade of the building, on a very frequented from Moscow.
The British embassy also hoisted a rainbow flag. Members of a conservative orthodox group protested at the embassy, trampling on it.
The flag also became a symbol of support for sexual minority rights, as many Muscovites have taken selfies with the badge in the background.
am / tbm / mab / jz
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