Izvestia reported on Wednesday that the United Russia party, which rules the Russian government, officially would unveil a new flag extolling the traditional heterosexual family in response to the U.S Supreme Court’s recent ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, according to the Moscow Times.
The flag, emblazoned with the outline of a father, mother, and their three children, accompanied by a hashtag reading “A Real Family,” was scheduled to make its premiere on Wednesday at Moscow’s Sokolniki park to honor the “Day of Family, Love and Fidelity,” annually scheduled for July 8 since 2008. According to the Lenta.ru news site, the Tula, Amur, Kaluga and Kurban regions of Russia forbid divorces on July 8.
Andrei Lisovenko, deputy head of the United Russia branch in Moscow, displayed the flag for Izvestia, adding, “This is our response to same-sex marriage, to this mockery of the concept of the family. We have to warn against gay-fever at home and support traditional values in our country.”
In June 2013, Russia passed legislation that criminalized promoting “nontraditional” sexual relations to minors. According to a poll conducted in May by the Levada Center, 37% of Russians agree with what used to represent the prevailing American sentiment: that homosexuality is a disease, and should be treated.
On its Twitter site, the Internet site RIP Novosti likened the new Russian heterosexual flag to the symbol of La Manif Pour Tous, a French movement opposing same-sex marriage. The French version only differs because it depicts two children instead of three.
La Manif Pour Tous writes in response to the “Mariage Pour Tous” bill on its website:
This bill intends to erase sexual differentiation and complementarity from the law and jeopardize the foundation of human identity: sexual difference and the resulting structure of parentage. It paves the way for a new, “social” parentage unrelated to human reality. It creates a framework for a new anthropological order founded not on sex but on gender, that is, sexual preference … The universal man/woman norm and natural parentage in the family enhance social and intergenerational cohesion.
In spring 2013, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey revealing 72% of Russians thought homosexuality was unacceptable.
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