2014 is the year Putin became the ‘single biggest threat to GLBT people in the world’ according to the United States’s oldest and largest GLBT magazine.
Usually reserved for GLBT rights champions, the award for Person of the Year for 2014 has gone to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Advocate notes that ‘since winning a third term in 2012, Putin has become ever more autocratic, and his antigay ideology ever more extreme. In June 2013, he signed the infamous antigay propaganda bill that criminalizes the “distribution of information…aimed at the formation among minors of nontraditional sexual attitudes,” with nontraditional meaning anything other than heterosexual.’
In Pew Research’s 2014 Global Attitudes Project, 72% of Russians think homosexuality is morally unacceptable. According to The Advocate this is a sign that the war Putin has waged against the GLBT community has been culturally successful.
While Putin claimed the top spot, The Advocate also named nine finalists for the award, which includs runner up Apple CEO Tim Cook and the NFL’s first openly gay player Michael Sam. Last year’s award went to Pope Francis.
Article | Levi Joule
