Apparently football is a sin now

[Dystopia]

Uganda isn't hosting any world cups any time soon. Bottom line is, Russian policy is anti-gay and clearly against spreading information on being gay. It actively suppresses homosexuality and promotes a society that is discriminatory and intolerant of it. People need to stop making excuses and start calling out intolerance for what it is.

It's anti-gay or anti-traditional family as the law puts it, it's illegal to spread information incentiving people to be gay and promoting gay lifestyle, but I don't think it's illegal to make peaceful protest for gay rights and talk about it with adults. Anyway, Putin said it best when he mentioned comparing Russian with countries where being gay gets you the death penalty is of no use. In Russia being gay is not even a noun, it's a verb, it's considered a behavior that is contagious and can be prevented.

They are being persecuted by the very nature of the laws. It's illegal to spread information about homosexuality. That's oppression plain and simple.

To spread information to minors. Yes it's illegal but if they abstain from spreading information or 'propaganda' they will be fine, even the jail time is not very high, most people will just pay fines, Russia needs to fix it but they still are better than third world countries where being gay inside your house is a crime. I don't think gays will be persecuted if they abstain from spreading information, sure there are some videos of people beating and humiliating gays in Russia but not all Russian people would do that. I think not doing the WC just because Russians don't like gays is stupid, it's not a significant issue enough to ensure we abstain from doing the world cup here. If they had severe violations of human rights that would be another problem

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Ohhhhhhhh ...

You meant FUTbol!!

Come on man, you need to clarify with your spelling, you've got Americans on this website. For a moment I thought you were speaking of the amazing time-honored awesome sport of FOOTBALL. You're just talking about boring old soccer.


meh, who cares.

Football is not even my favorite sport, but I'll treat american football with the same respect americans treat soccer.

[Napoléon]

The Russian position on homosexuality is based upon the fact that the Russian population is declining. It needs more babies. They figure that if they can get more people to have more kids they will be able to maintain a strong country. Therefore the spread of homosexuality is a national security issue for them. Their national identity could cease to exist fairly soon unless the trend is reversed.

It's anti-gay or anti-traditional family as the law puts it, it's illegal to spread information incentiving people to be gay and promoting gay lifestyle, but I don't think it's illegal to make peaceful protest for gay rights and talk about it with adults. Anyway, Putin said it best when he mentioned comparing Russian with countries where being gay gets you the death penalty is of no use. In Russia being gay is not even a noun, it's a verb, it's considered a behavior that is contagious and can be prevented.

...

To spread information to minors. Yes it's illegal but if they abstain from spreading information or 'propaganda' they will be fine, even the jail time is not very high, most people will just pay fines, Russia needs to fix it but they still are better than third world countries where being gay inside your house is a crime. I don't think gays will be persecuted if they abstain from spreading information, sure there are some videos of people beating and humiliating gays in Russia but not all Russian people would do that. I think not doing the WC just because Russians don't like gays is stupid, it's not a significant issue enough to ensure we abstain from doing the world cup here. If they had severe violations of human rights that would be another problem

All I see here is excuse after excuse for intolerance.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

And you don't see real guys playing rugby wearing armour and helmets . . .

I don't know if the rugby players are real men or not, but obviously, they're not very smart.

Most of the people I know who play rugby also happen to be doctors or academics. Indeed, I used to play rugby union a lot until work became too pressing as an undergraduate.

Jamie Roberts (Welsh rugby player) is one of the most recent international players (of which there have been quite a few) to also be a practising doctor.

Contrary to popular belief Rugby is no more dangerous than any other direct contact sport. It's often brutal, but it's also really fun. And respect is given primacy; respect for players, for referees, for fans, and ultimately for safety. I played for around 8 years and never once received an injury I couldn't walk off. Although I wasn't a forward.

In a rugby game you'll often get fans of different teams mingled between each other drinking and having a good laugh. Last time I went to see a game was at Twickenham when England played New Zealand. Behind us were some Kiwi's and they were a great. There's no banter like rugby banter.

You'd never see that in a football game, though.

Difference as I see it between American football and Rugby is that in AF you can get tackled from all angles by multiple people. I'd want safety equipment if two people from different angles were coming at me full pelt. In rugby (union) it's actually more often than not one and one, and its direct. In AF you can jump into tackles meaning the prospect of getting high-ended is quite high. In Union it is illegal to jump into tackles for that very reason.


You tackle the legs because there's no point in trying to stop someone above their waist. You hit the waist and move down. If the guy running at you is 6'8" and built like a brick house, upper body tackles are useless. if you tackle his legs, it doesn't matter. You lean in with you shoulder and move your head to the side. That way you absorb the impact in a part of your body that won't be damaged so easily and protect your head from the full force of the impact. It's a technique drilled into all kids who start playing, which shows at the extremely low level of concussions players receive.

Of course, injuries do happen, sometimes serious. But that's true of every sport.

[Dystopia]

The Russian position on homosexuality is based upon the fact that the Russian population is declining. It needs more babies. They figure that if they can get more people to have more kids they will be able to maintain a strong country. Therefore the spread of homosexuality is a national security issue for them. Their national identity could cease to exist fairly soon unless the trend is reversed.

It's anti-gay or anti-traditional family as the law puts it, it's illegal to spread information incentiving people to be gay and promoting gay lifestyle, but I don't think it's illegal to make peaceful protest for gay rights and talk about it with adults. Anyway, Putin said it best when he mentioned comparing Russian with countries where being gay gets you the death penalty is of no use. In Russia being gay is not even a noun, it's a verb, it's considered a behavior that is contagious and can be prevented.

...

To spread information to minors. Yes it's illegal but if they abstain from spreading information or 'propaganda' they will be fine, even the jail time is not very high, most people will just pay fines, Russia needs to fix it but they still are better than third world countries where being gay inside your house is a crime. I don't think gays will be persecuted if they abstain from spreading information, sure there are some videos of people beating and humiliating gays in Russia but not all Russian people would do that. I think not doing the WC just because Russians don't like gays is stupid, it's not a significant issue enough to ensure we abstain from doing the world cup here. If they had severe violations of human rights that would be another problem

All I see here is excuse after excuse for intolerance.

Are you calling me intolerant? I don't have prejudice with gay people, on the contrary, I simply think not doing a sports event in a country because they don't like gays is not justified, we are there for the sports and competition, not for the country's politics. Should we abstain from hosting a world cup in the US (hypothetically) because not all States allow gay marriage? I do agree that any country should fullfill basic human rights, but in this case it's not serious enough to ban the world cup, it should be about sports and not about putting our noses in other countries politic affairs. And Russia certainly won't accept international demands of tolerance, so it's useless, I consider the Ukraine Crisis if it got more serious on Russia's side would be more reasonable reason to ban the world cup in russia.

[Mr Greene]

denouncing it as a "homosexual abomination,"

I thought it was just boring-ass soccer?

How deep did you have to drill for that?

Russian isn't so bad compared to countries were you can get jail time or the death penalty for being gay. In Russian it's not a crime to be gay, it's a crime to propagate homosexual lifestyle to minors of 18 years old. It is still discriminatory, but there's no comparison between that and for instance Uganda.

Uganda isn't hosting any world cups any time soon. Bottom line is, Russian policy is anti-gay and clearly against spreading information on being gay. It actively suppresses homosexuality and promotes a society that is discriminatory and intolerant of it. People need to stop making excuses and start calling out intolerance for what it is.

Of course Uganda isn't hosting a World Cup, they don't have Qatar's billions...

[Napoléon]

Are you calling me intolerant?

No I said you are making excuses for intolerance. Can you not read?

Should we abstain from hosting a world cup in the US (hypothetically) because not all States allow gay marriage? I do agree that any country should fullfill basic human rights, but in this case it's not serious enough to ban the world cup, it should be about sports and not about putting our noses in other countries politic affairs. And Russia certainly won't accept international demands of tolerance, so it's useless, I consider the Ukraine Crisis if it got more serious on Russia's side would be more reasonable reason to ban the world cup in russia.

It's not about us abstaining. It's about FIFA choosing. It's about how corrupt their organisation is that they'd host the world cup in 2 countries that are quite obviously not as good candidates as others that were competing to hold the tournaments. Just look at what has happened in Brazil. It's a joke that Brazil even got to hold the world cup.

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Of course Uganda isn't hosting a World Cup, they don't have Qatar's billions...

No shit Sherlock.

[Dystopia]

It's not about us abstaining. It's about FIFA choosing. It's about how corrupt their organisation is that they'd host the world cup in 2 countries that are quite obviously not as good candidates as others that were competing to hold the tournaments. Just look at what has happened in Brazil. It's a joke that Brazil even got to hold the world cup.

I agree with you on Brazil, but Russia has already been chosen, what can you do now? They hosted the Olympics and I don't think there is a problem for gay athletes to compete.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

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The Russian position on homosexuality is based upon the fact that the Russian population is declining. It needs more babies. They figure that if they can get more people to have more kids they will be able to maintain a strong country. Therefore the spread of homosexuality is a national security issue for them. Their national identity could cease to exist fairly soon unless the trend is reversed.

It's anti-gay or anti-traditional family as the law puts it, it's illegal to spread information incentiving people to be gay and promoting gay lifestyle, but I don't think it's illegal to make peaceful protest for gay rights and talk about it with adults. Anyway, Putin said it best when he mentioned comparing Russian with countries where being gay gets you the death penalty is of no use. In Russia being gay is not even a noun, it's a verb, it's considered a behavior that is contagious and can be prevented.

...

To spread information to minors. Yes it's illegal but if they abstain from spreading information or 'propaganda' they will be fine, even the jail time is not very high, most people will just pay fines, Russia needs to fix it but they still are better than third world countries where being gay inside your house is a crime. I don't think gays will be persecuted if they abstain from spreading information, sure there are some videos of people beating and humiliating gays in Russia but not all Russian people would do that. I think not doing the WC just because Russians don't like gays is stupid, it's not a significant issue enough to ensure we abstain from doing the world cup here. If they had severe violations of human rights that would be another problem

---

All I see here is excuse after excuse for intolerance.

Should a society tolerate murderers, thieves, arsonists, rapists? By criminalizing homosexuality the Russians are saying that the activity is voluntary and therefore a national security concern because it reduces the needed population growth.

If the behavior is genetic then it can be considered to be a birth defect, which might be cured. So do you want people to be subjected to all kinds of lab experiments or do you want them to be imprisoned? Simply leaving them alone to do what they want to do doesn't seem to be an option.

People do not have freedom when they live in a group. Someone will always tell you what you can and can't do. You will conform or be punished.

[Dystopia]

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All I see here is excuse after excuse for intolerance.

Should a society tolerate murderers, thieves, arsonists, rapists? By criminalizing homosexuality the Russians are saying that the activity is voluntary and therefore a national security concern because it reduces the needed population growth.

If the behavior is genetic then it can be considered to be a birth defect, which might be cured. So do you want people to be subjected to all kinds of lab experiments or do you want them to be imprisoned? Simply leaving them alone to do what they want to do doesn't seem to be an option.

People do not have freedom when they live in a group. Someone will always tell you what you can and can't do. You will conform or be punished.

You are funny because you're saying the Russian law criminalized homosexuality, and that is of course a lie. Being gay in Russia is not illegal and punishable, you cannot arrest people for being gay or living with their gay partners, you can't justify violence against gay people because they are gay, you will be punished just like you will be if you commit violence against another group of people.

If Russians don't like gays, that is another problem (and they don't because the majority of Russians support the anti-gay law) and it is not going to be solved trough laws that enforce tolerance and acceptance

Sure we can disagree all day and say Russia's anti-gay law is baseless and stupid, however it is hypocritical to call it one of the most anti-gay-rights laws in the world since there are countries where it's illegal to be gay. Sure there are restrictions to freedom of speech - You can't propagate gay lifestyle to minors - But that's it, I don't think anyone has gotten arrested yet for this, at most people will pay some heavy fines. Instead of worrying about Russia's anti-gay law we should worry about Uganda's or other cases where being gay gets you jail time and the death penalty, or were there isn't punishment for persecuting gay people.

[The Grand Nudger]

Sure we can disagree all day and say Russia's anti-gay law is baseless and stupid, however it is hypocritical to call it one of the most anti-gay-rights laws in the world since there are countries where it's illegal to be gay.

-if you can't "be gay in public" or "be gay around minors" how would they ever know? Being gay -so long as nobody knows about it, from an investigators point of view, is indistinguishable from being hetero. So yeah, it's about as anti-gay as it gets. So they don't stone queers in Russia, or whatever the fuck bigots are doing to people they don't like - good for them, glad to see they've taken the high road.