Tag: gender neutral

Beglov: Russia Fighting in Ukraine to Eliminate Gender-Neutral Toilets

Governor Alexander Beglov (center), visiting wounded Russian soldiers at a military hospital in Petersburg. Source: Telegram

The Russian military understand well what they are fighting for in Ukraine because they have seen gender-neutral toilets in the local schools there, Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov wrote on his Telegram channel after meeting with wounded soldiers at a hospital.

“It is easiest to talk politics with servicemen. Those who marched through the Ukrainianized version of Donbass carrying a machine gun understand well what we are fighting for,” Beglov wrote.

According to Beglov, the combatants saw bathrooms in Ukraine “in which instead of two spaces—for girls and for boys—there are three spaces: for girls, boys, and gender-neutrals.” That is why, the Petersburg governor argues, “these guys […] don’t need it explained to them what values we stand for.”

In response to Beglov’s statement, Boris Vishnevsky, a member of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, reminded Beglov of the problems with Russia’s infrastructure: “According to Rosstat, a quarter of Russians do not have centralized sewerage.” He suggested redirecting the efforts aimed at fighting the West and NATO to more pressing problems. “And basically, it is hard to imagine something more gender-neutral than a backyard ‘latrine’-style toilet,” the local lawmaker concluded.

The need to protect children from western influence and fortify “traditional values” is regularly mentioned in statements by Russian politicians and officials as justification for the invasion of Ukraine. Earlier, President Vladimir Putin accused western countries of trying to “impose perversions” on children. “Do we want to have ‘parent number 1, number 2, number 3’ instead of ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ here in our country, in Russia? Have they completely lost their minds?” Putin claimed in 2022 at a ceremony to annex parts of Ukraine. In December 2022, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained about gender-neutral toilets in Sweden: “You have no idea how inhumane-it is, just inhumane.”

Source: “Petersburg governor calls fight against gender-neutral toilets goal of war in Ukraine,” Moscow Times Russian Service, 14 January 2024. Translated by the Russian Reader

I paid a visit to our guys at a military hospital and wished them a happy Old New Year.

The conversation warmed my heart: we were finishing each other’s sentences.

It is easiest to talk politics with servicemen.

Those who marched through the Ukrainianized version of Donbass carrying a machine gun understand well what we are fighting for.

These guys—who saw in the [local] schools bathrooms in which instead of two spaces—for girls and for boys—there are three spaces: for girls, boys, and gender-neutrals—don’t need it explained to them what values we stand for.

We talked a bit about the future, about [their] prospects. I wrote down a few requests. I promised to bring Paralympic athletes to the hospital so that the servicemen could discuss starting sports careers with them if they wished. I am sure that if these guys—with their energy, endurance and team spirit—join our national teams, it will be impossible to defeat us.

Source: Alexander Beglov (Telegram), 13 January 2024. Translated by the Russian Reader

Is There Life on Mars?

OSIRIS_Mars_true_colorOne of the joys of the web is being able to catch glimpses of life on different planets.

Gieselman dumped the girlie name bestowed at birth, asked friends and teachers to use Rocko, the tough-sounding nickname friends had come up with, and told people to use “they” instead of “he” or “she.” “They” has become an increasingly popular substitute for “he” or “she” in the transgender community, and the University of Vermont, a public institution of some 12,700 students, has agreed to use it.

While colleges across the country have been grappling with concerns related to students transitioning from one gender to another, Vermont is at the forefront in recognizing the next step in identity politics: the validation of a third gender.

The university allows students like Gieselman to select their own identity — a new first name, regardless of whether they’ve legally changed it, as well as a chosen pronoun — and records these details in the campuswide information system so that professors have the correct terminology at their fingertips.

—Ulie Scelfo, “University Recognizes a Third Gender: Neutral,” The New York Times, February 3, 2015

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Russia Blacklists LGBT Teen Online Support Group
The Moscow Times
February 2, 2015

A Russian web site that served as a support group for LGBT teenagers has been blacklisted by the authorities and will likely be blocked within the country, news reports said Monday.

The site’s name Deti-404 (Children 404), after the online HTTP error message for “page not found,” may prove portentous if Russia’s Internet watchdog Roskomnadzor considers the site to be in violation of a federal law that regulates online content.

Russian news site Ura.ru reported on Monday, citing Roskomnadzor, that the Deti-404 web site will be blocked because it disseminated information on committing suicide.

Deti-404.com and as its eponymous groups on social networks Facebook and VKontakte were still accessible in Moscow at press time Monday evening.

Ura.ru published a post contained on Deti-404’s Facebook page showing a young woman’s scratched-up arm with the numbers “404” writing in black ink. The caption reads: “I want to die, to disappear, so that I simply never existed.”

Deti-404’s founder, Yelena Klimova, said last week that she was fined 50,000 rubles ($780) for violating Russia’s controversial law against the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors.” The site’s blacklisting may be linked to that case.

Roskomnadzor opened a case against Klimova last November after it claimed to have received some 150 complaints from “citizens and organizations” about Deti-404’s pages on social media networks.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia