Women take part in a Kiss-in protest outside Russian Consulate as demonstrators kiss same-sex participants to protest anti-gay laws in Russia, in Vancouver on August 2. Photo: CFP

As the 2014 Winter Olympics is to be held in the Russian city Sochi, former IOC president Jacques Rogge, whose term ended in September, in August expressed that "the Olympic Charter is very clear. It says that sport is a human right and it should be available to all regardless of race, sex or sexual orientation."

While more than a dozen countries and regions in the world have legalized same-sex marriage, homosexuality is still an unwelcome issue in Russia.

The Russian LGBT Network (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) is an organization established by homosexuals in Russia to resist the discrimination against them.

LGBT Network members fight for their rights to marry and adopt children. For them the prohibition of same-sex marriage by the nation has destroyed the principle of equality.

The organization faces more difficulties in the future, as the Russian Federation Council passed laws in June to ban "gay propaganda" to minors and the adoption of Russian-born children by gay couples.

The anti-homosexual laws sparked massive debate worldwide, with many people concerned about the discrimination against homosexuals in Russia.

In response to the laws, the LGBT activists launched a large-scale campaign in August to boycott Russian vodka.

In early September about 300 gay rights activists rallied in Spain's capital Madrid, waving signs that read "Love Always Wins" over a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to protest against the Russian laws cracking down on homosexuals.

Irina Fidotova and Irina Shipitko, a lesbian couple, applied to get married at a Moscow registry office in May 2009 but were refused, according to reports.

The couple flew to Canada for their marriage registration after they had tried to sue the Moscow office, in which the court rejected their request. Currently they are still asking Russia to recognize their marriage status.

Society uncomfortable

Putin said in April that the homosexuality issues would be dealt with in accordance with the tendencies prevailing in the public mood, the RIA Novosti reported.

According to a survey by levada-center.ru in March, a Russian non-governmental research organization, around 85 percent of Russians were opposed to homosexuality and homosexual marriage, while only 5 percent of respondents showed their support.

Ordinary people in Russia feel uncomfortable when talking about homosexuals. This is more so for the elderly who used to live in the Soviet era with strict bans on the issue.

Anatoli Voloshen, a taxi driver in Moscow, told the Global Times that a small number of homosexuals might indeed suffer physiological and psychological disturbance, but to him most of them are psychopaths.

"Some of them are the scum of society who pursue all kinds of titillation and hang around all day," said Voloshen, adding that the social moral code would be ruined if homosexuals and homosexual marriage were protected by laws.

In the ex-Soviet era, homosexuals were spurned and laughed at by people and to elder people like Voloshen, the appearance of same-sex couples on TV leaves them aghast.

"I, as well as most of my classmates, think it (homosexual and same-sex marriage) is abnormal behavior," Katia Shumakova, a senior student at Moscow State University of Culture and Arts, told the Global Times when asked whether she supported homosexuals.

Shi Jialu, a Chinese student who is studying at Moscow Language University, told the Global Times that people in Russia seem to be reluctant to talk about homosexuality and her houseparent in the school even refused to discuss the topic when she tried to ask her attitude.

Immorality and Depopulation

Russia is a traditional Orthodox Eastern Church country that holds conservative ideas on social morality and churches across the country have already called on people to reject homosexuals and same-sex marriage.

"Homosexuals and same-sex marriage are against the order of nature," Tatiana Georgieva, a social culture scholar in Russia, told the Global Times, adding that they would arouse tensions of social relations and split Russian society.

"As a traditional Orthodox country, Russia maintains the normal marriage tradition, which has guaranteed the continuity of generations," said Georgieva.

Alexander Yakubov, a politics professor with the Moscow State Special Institute of Arts, told the Global Times that most Russians cannot accept homosexuals and homosexual marriage like other Westerners because they feel uncomfortable and anxious when hearing the words of homosexual partners and homosexual parents, which don't conform to the social morality.

"Because of historical reasons, Russia has been facing problems of gender imbalance and high male mortality, which leads to depopulation and shortage of labor resources," said Irina Silakova, a professor with the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts, noting that Russia wouldn't ignore homosexual marriage's impact on low birth rates.

But not accepting homosexuality does not necessarily mean that rights of homosexuals are not protected.

"Sexual minority rights are not violated in Russia," Putin said in April at a news conference after talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, adding that gay people enjoy the same rights and freedoms as other Russians.

"Children are not born in same-sex marriages and Russia faces problems of a demographic nature," said the president.

Sergey Naryshkin, head of the Russian State Duma, said on October 1 that sexual minorities have the same rights as everyone else in the country. However, he also stated that the promotion of homosexuality among minors should not be allowed.

Naryshkin stressed that Russian society is rather conservative and it has "retained Orthodox values, including the traditional family."

Alexsandr Karvatsky, a lawyer in Moscow, told the Global Times that Russia attended the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo by the UN in 1994, which approved a development outline that contains the content of accepting homosexuality and homosexual marriage.

"Because the issue of homosexuality was not public in Russia at that time, the delegation didn't raise any questions on the outline," said Karvatsky, noting that currently Russians still have to face up to the challenge of homosexuality and same-sex marriage.