“Four Graces and One Gender”

Yesterday, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation held a hearing on “The system of measures to prevent and suppress LGBT propaganda among teenagers and youth” (the LGBT movement is banned by the Supreme Court as extremist). Participants of the event discussed the “unprecedented pressure” of the West on traditional spiritual and moral values, complained about the dominance of “genders” in sports – and warned about the dangers of anime and the “furry” subculture. Opinions were divided only on the issue of the rainbow: some participants considered it safe for children, while others warned that “Anglo-Saxons skillfully turn positive into negative.”

Opening the hearings, member of the OP council Mikhail Anichkin explained that the chamber had “huge questions” about the system of educating the younger generation. “We are part of that force,” Mr. Anichkin addressed his colleagues in the ward, but did not end according to Goethe: “which is trying to restore the progressive development of our country in the spiritual sphere.” This development, in his version, is opposed by “unprecedented pressure” from the West, which is allegedly trying to force Russia to abandon its own traditional spiritual and moral values ​​- and is also “spreading rot on the Orthodox Church at the entire world level.” “After all, there is no literal translation of Orthodoxy,” he gave an example of “spread.” “In English, Orthodoxy is translated as “orthodox church,” that is, “another church” (rather, “orthodox.”— “Kommersant”). And what is right-to-sla-vi-e – no one translates it literally. And literally this is “Glory to Rule” – that is, a set of laws by which our ancients lived.” The chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, Priest Fyodor Lukyanov, who was present at the meeting, did not comment on the moderator’s statement.

Mr. Anichkin bitterly stated that in the important fight against “LGBT propaganda,” Russia “seems to be left alone”: “Two weeks ago, international competitions were held in Belarus, and gender was present on the podium there (apparently, Mr. Anichkin meant transgender person.— “Kommersant”). And the Belarusians reacted calmly to this. It’s also strange – imagine the International Olympic Committee’s recommendations for rhythmic gymnastics, where 20% of the team should be gender-specific. Imagine a team performing with rings and clubs – four graces and one gender. For us it looks ugly, but Westerners say that this is a movement forward.”

Deputy Chairman of the Coordination Council of the RF OP for the maintenance and development of healthy lifestyle standards, Victoria Arshinova, said that “the LGBT movement began to operate in Russia in 1984.” Among other things, she warned that the movement has its own specific language. “Feminitives—leader, director, author, psychologist—are uncharacteristic of the Russian language,” a doctor of sciences, professor at Moscow State University gave an example. “Identification of destructive phenomena associated with LGBT propaganda” should be carried out by specialists with interdisciplinary training in the field of “education, religious studies, cultural studies, art history, film production, theater studies, medicine, biology, linguistics, philology, philosophy, psychology and other knowledge.” The preparation of such comprehensively trained personnel, according to Mrs. Arshinova, should be entrusted to scientific organizations under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The professor proposed to the same department to create “expert commissions for the timely analysis of information for its destructiveness and propaganda of destructive actions.”

Then the expert turned to the Ministry of Education and Science and advised conducting annual monitoring “to assess the hierarchy of values ​​and early identification of destructive values” among boys and girls aged 18–20 years, so that the state could then “influence” these values. And the Ministry of Education simply needs to prepare educational programs for advanced training to train personnel “in the field of development of students’ sexual identity.” Such specialists will be aware, for example, of the impact of “borderline personality disorder (BPD) on sex and a person’s sexual life,” Victoria Arshinova gave an example: “Adolescents with BPD are likely to exhibit sexual promiscuity, obsessive sexual ideas and hypersexuality, which further leads to to the problems of developing sexual identity.” Note that BPD is not mentioned in the 10th version of the International Classification of Diseases, which is used in the Russian Federation. This formulation of the diagnosis appeared in ICD-11, the implementation of which in Russia was recently suspended – as the Ministry of Health explained, due to “a possible contradiction with traditional moral and spiritual values.”

“We still have such a counteracting factor – it’s called WHO, the World Health Organization,” complained Mikhail Anichkin. “The latest WHO recommendations are generally terrifying for those parents who base their behavior on the basis of spiritual values. You know that about ten years ago homosexuality was excluded as a psychological… mental illness (WHO excluded homosexuality from ICD-10 in 1990.— “Kommersant”). And the latest recommendations spell out all age categories of children – what should be done if it is possible to change gender orientation, how to suppress puberty with all kinds of medications. And our country must accept them as a member of WHO.”

Priest Fyodor Lukyanov “welcomed” the refusal to implement ICD-11 in Russia: “The approaches proposed by WHO to the treatment of people with disorders such as LGBT, pedophilia, and transgenderism go against traditional values.” The clergyman added that recognizing LGBT as an extremist organization is “a form of moral self-defense of society” from Satanism: “Western sociologists, religious scholars, lawyers and specialists from other fields of scientific knowledge have long ago identified identical signs of LGBT and the satanic movements. These movements have common characteristics – subculture, counterculture, sexual sin – sodomy, sexual debauchery, hedonism, family hatred.”

Children are drawn into the LGBT movement through subcultures, says Andrei Afanasyev, a representative of the Parents’ Chamber: “Of course, anime comes first. There are a dozen specific genres there that are entirely dedicated to promoting perversion.” It’s also worth taking a closer look at the “furry” subculture (fan of anthropomorphic animals), he’s sure. “In the West, furries are part of the LGBT community, they participate in gay pride parades and promote their LGBT agenda in every country,” noted Mr. Afanasyev.

Deputy Chairman of the Public Education Commission Natalya Agre complained that in Russia there are no “normal toys” – “our nesting dolls are at the end of any shopping center.” But at the same time, Mrs. Agre stood up for the rainbow: “Children need a rainbow. Understand, a small child sees a rainbow, he doesn’t know anything about LGBT.” However, Mr. Anichkin advised not to rush into a decision about the safety of the rainbow. And he reminded those gathered about the treachery of the Anglo-Saxons: “They skillfully turn positive into negative and negative into positive!”

Emilia Gabdullina, Alexander Chernykh