In a Facebook post, director Oliver
Stone insisted that neither he nor Russian President Vladimir Putin
are homophobic.
Stone was responding to backlash to a
The Daily Beast story in which he is quoted as describing a
2013 Russian law that prohibits positive public portrayals of LGBT
people as “sensible” and complaining about a focus in America on
gender identity, in particular the terms “transgender” and
“cisgender.”
Stone made the comments as he
interviewed Putin at the Kremlin
“As to gay/LGBTQ beliefs in Russia,
again much misunderstood. Mr. Putin made himself clear in 'The Putin
Interviews' – he’s not anti-gay/LGBTQ. Nor am I,” Stone
wrote.
“Have another look at 'Alexander,'
for which we took a beating in 2004. Beyond the Hephaestion story in
the sexuality department, I prominently featured Alexander’s love
for the Persian eunuch Bagoas, certainly an example of a third sex
and emblematic of Alexander’s world vision, which I much admired.”
“Do not bring American expectations
to Russian life any more than you expect Iran, Korea, Venezuela, or
China to follow our political or social demands,” he added.
Stone has previously discussed his
admiration for Putin.