No, really. Vladimir Putin has “gay friends.”
[Image via MotherJones]
The guy who made it illegal to speak kindly of LGBT people in Russia, the one who turned his own country into a hellhole for gays? Yeah, that guy. He wants you to think that he’s just chummy as pie with queer folk.
Putin sat down for an interview with journalist Andrew Marr on Jan 19, which I’m sure had nothing to do with recouping his image before Sochi begins. Nothing at all.
According to The Advocate, when asked about his views on the gay community, Putin responded by saying, “I myself know some people who are gay — we are on friendly terms. I am not prejudiced in any way.”
My god, you could slice that cognitive dissonance like fresh mozzarella. But wait! There’s more! Putin went on to say that “homosexual people can’t feel inferior here because there is no professional career or social discrimination against them.”
Look, I’m not going to try to point out the gaping holes in Putin’s logic here, because he’s operating on a level of myopic thinking that can’t be reasoned with. If nothing else, it does offer a glimpse — albeit a confusing one — as to what in the name of fuck is rattling around in Putin’s head.
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