Russia goes backwards on LGBT

Russia Today are reporting that the the lower house of the Russian Parliament, The Duma, has voted for a ban on promoting non-traditional sexual relations to minors.  Now whilst this might sound sensible, it is one of those ideas that in practice causes a lot more problems than it solves.

The situation in Russia regarding LGBT relations has been pretty stable since 2003.  The age of consent is 16, for both heterosexual and LGBT relationships, homosexual sex is legal, as is the right to change your gender, but there is still a long way to go. 

There are no anti-discrimination laws in place for the Russian LGBT community, and this new law seeks to take the issue further back into the dark ages.  People start to express their sexuality as early as their early teens, and they will want to find out information.  Blocking access to that information will not promote heterosexuality, but will make LGBT relationships, and other non-traditional sexual relations more interesting.  It's classic reverse psychology, tell somebody they can't do something and they want to do it all the more.

Some ideas sound eminently sensible.  However, most of those ideas end up causing more problems, especially when those measures are directly against a person's sexuality, and also, trying to place societal controls on something that Mother Nature decides.  It comes across as being a fool's errand to try and place societal controls, such as laws, on things that are not decided by societies, but by nature.

What's worse is that the public backs this ban.  88% back it, and 42% think homosexuality should be made a criminal offence.  This is a backward step for Russia, and it will come back and bite them, when they least expect it.

Viewpoint Original: The Plymouth Argyle situation.

There is a break for Premiership and Championship clubs this weekend as International matches are played.  Paul Sturrock of Plymouth Argyle must be happy to have the internationals take the attention away from the performance of Plymouth Argyle.

5 matches, 2 draws, 3 losses, no wins.  23rd in the Championship and currently in a position that would mean relegation at the end of the season.

Paul Sturrock has made a pledge to stay on and help Argyle turn the corner, rather than resign and move aside for someone else.

Now, it would very easy for me to say that Paul Sturrock should resign.  It would also be relatively easy for me to say that Paul Sturrock should stay and help Argyle turn it around.  But for me it’s never been about easy options, but about seeking and telling the truth.  So here it is.

Paul Sturrock, the only person who can make the decision when or whether to go from Plymouth Argyle is you.  Sure, fans like myself will say their piece, as they are perfectly entitled to do, but at the end of the day, only you, in your heart of hearts, will know if you CAN turn it around or not.  IF you know you can, then you will have my full support.  But if you know it is not possible for you to do this, deep down inside of you, then I would suggest that you step aside from the managerial role and make room for someone who can do it.

After the past few years of success that Argyle has enjoyed, this is the kind of start no-one likes to see.  Second from bottom is not where Argyle belongs.  We all know that.  There is still hope for an automatic promotion place.  But it has to start with the very next match, otherwise, even getting to a play off spot will be almost impossible.