Vitaly Milonov, the St. Petersburg
lawmaker who authored the city's “gay propaganda” law, has
accused gay people of lying about their “problems.”
Milonov's St. Petersburg ordinance,
which bans the promotion of gay rights to minors, inspired a
nationwide law that has led to calls for a boycott of the Winter
Olympics to be held in Sochi, Russia.
In the BBC documentary Stephen Fry:
Out There, openly gay author-actor Stephen Fry looks at what it
means to be LGBT in 2013 through revealing interviews with openly gay
celebrities, such as Sir Elton John, and everyday folks, such as a
man who is facing persecution in his native Iran and is seeking
asylum in the United Kingdom.
In a segment released by the BBC this
week, Fry chats with Milonov, who's unconcerned when Fry tells him
that the police don't respect the rights of gays.
“I spoke to a girl yesterday, they
tried to rape her to 'cure' her of her homosexuality,” Fry tells
Milonov. “She goes to the police. As soon as they find out she's
a lesbian, 'Go away.' The police don't respect her rights.”
“It's a fairy tale,” Milonov
interrupts.
“She was lying, was she?”
“It's a fairy tale, because gay
people, most of them, are lying about their problems ...”
“Why?”
“... Because most of them would like
to be favored and famous because they're victims of Russian medieval
behavior,” Milonov responds.
“You're living in a fantasy world,”
Fry says, shaking his head. (The video is embedded on this page.
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(Related: Stephen
Fry called “bringer of evil” by Russian anti-gay lawmaker Vitaly
Milonov.)