I can't help but feel that Russia making homosexuality illegal is a simple troll-move. Have the world go ballistic, so noone will look at the things that are truly important (not saying gay rights aren't important, but in Russia it's less than a drop in the ocean).
since when did Russia make homosexuality illegal? It's still illegal in Texas. What Russia made illegal was promoting the, 'alternative lifestyle' to minors.
Homosexuality has not been illegal in any manner in the US or any US state since the Lawrence v. Texas case in 2003, which overturned the last few state holdouts on this issue. And don't kid yourself about what some ignorant thugs in Russia have made illegal...
Moreover, being homosexual was never illegal in the first place; it was sodomy laws that made gay sex (and, in many cases, any non-vaginal sex by anyone) a crime.
These laws were used as tools to specifically target gay people, but I make the distinction because gay speech, the issue in Russia right now, has always been protected by the first amendment.
Interestingly, Justice O'Connor filed an opinion concurring in judgement in Lawrence where she would have only struck down laws that singled out same-sex conduct, allowing laws to remain on the books if they included opposite-sex conduct too.
except, expressing the fact that you're gay in public is seen as promoting it to minors. So for all intents and purposes: being gay without pretending to be straight is illegal.
I think we're all feeding the troll.