As a counter-offensive, a group called Athlete Ally is promoting Principle 6 of the Olympic charter which states:
Thankfully, in addition to the efforts of Athlete Ally, companies like AT&T, Google (my former employer, GO GOOGLE!) are making their voices known that anti-gay discrimination should not be tolerated. We will see if more corporate pressure mounts over the next two weeks during the Olympics. I hope it has the positive effect of the Russian government condemning the violence and moving to prosecute those responsible.
How the Second Amendment protects Freedom
I think about how blessed I am to live in a free country like the United States. In America, we have the Second Amendment to protect against a tyrannical government. Tyrannical, defined:
ty·ran·ni·cal
təˈranikəl/ adjective
1. exercising power in a cruel or arbitrary way
The Russian police and government are not protecting their citizens, and are basically encouraging the violence. It qualifies as state-sponsored violence in my book, and I'd call that tyrannical. This cruel, arbitrary exercising of this power is only targeted at gay people.
If I can't rely on the police to protect me, then the only obvious conclusion is that I am responsible for my own protection. This is why millions of Americans own guns, which is also a primary way of keeping a tyrannical government at bay. On the one hand, I can't imagine the United States ever passing a Russian-style "gay propaganda" law, but in reality there are forms of it at the state level where students and educators can't use the word "gay" or talk about homosexuality in K-12 public schools. It's laws like these that could eventually push things to a tyrannical extreme.
If America ever did become a tyrannical state, I'd at least have my firearms as a way to protect myself. Unless that tyranny included disarmament. While Russians are allowed to own personal firearms for self-defense, they must apply for a permit. However, handgun ownership is banned so having one for conceal carry is a no-no unless you want to break the law defending yourself.
I wonder if the Russian government would approve a permit application from an anti-gay hate crime victim? My guess is that they would deny it and provide the reason mentioned by Russian police in the above video: "you're gay so it's normal that you were attacked. Why would you need to [protect yourself] against someone?"
Irrational, inhumane, and just wrong. Governments should not condone violence or discrimination against any peaceful group.