Fascism doing fascism things.
Conservatism is a plague of oppression and death. This is what your conservative neighbors, family and friends support when they vote for conservatives. They will politely watch as the normal people are oppressed and killed all around them. Remember that about them when you are interacting with them.
Thank goodness they don’t have any more important or pressing issues going on at the moment
TBH, I sort of wonder the history of why they push the LGBT repression so hard in Russia.
In a place like the US, where you have culture war manifested through elections, it’s an easy way to score points with a specific and identified demographic/donor group. Demonize the gays and then you don’t have to lean on other voters who will ask about why the schools are failing and the economy is spiraling.
Does the Russian political system have such pressure groups?
I could sort of see it as part of a larger suite of “traditional values/restore past glory” messaging, but even there, it seems low on the checklist, and again, is there even meaningful campaigning where it pays dividends?
Well, fascism does seem to love having enemies to distract their populace with. Here’s an article talking about it.
Basically this. Russia and its ruling party have big problems and so scapegoating a minority group offers a way to misdirect anger that would otherwise be aimed at the government. You may recognise this exact dynamic from your own country’s local right-wing party.
