Theme Pressure

Russian anti-gay bill passes, protesters detained

MOSCOW A bill that stigmatizes Russia's gay community and bans the distribution of information about homosexuality to children was overwhelmingly approved by the lower house of parliament Tuesday.

More than two dozen protesters were attacked by anti-gay activists and then detained by police, hours before the State Duma approved the Kremlin-backed legislation in a 436-0 vote.

The bill banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" still needs to be passed by the appointed upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, but neither step is in doubt

The measure is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values as opposed to Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church see as corrupting Russian youth and contributing to the protests against Putin's rule.

The only parliament member to abstain Tuesday was Ilya Ponomaryov, who has supported the protest movement to the aggravation of the leadership of his pro-Kremlin party.

Before the vote, gay rights activists attempted to hold a "kissing rally" outside the State Duma, located across the street from Red Square in central Moscow, but they were attacked by hundreds of Orthodox Christian activists and members of pro-Kremlin youth groups. The mostly burly young men with closely cropped hair pelted them with eggs while shouting obscenities and homophobic slurs.

Riot police moved in, detaining more than two dozen protesters, almost all of them gay rights activists. Some who were not detained were beaten by masked men on a central street about a mile away.

The legislation will impose hefty fines for providing information about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community to minors or holding gay pride rallies. Breaching the law will carry a fine of up to 5,000 rubles ($156) for an individual and up to 1 million rubles ($31,000) for media organizations.

After the bill was given preliminary approval in January, lawmakers changed the wording of "homosexual propaganda" to "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations," which backers of the bill defined as "relations not conducive to procreation."

Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment remains high. Russia also is considering banning citizens of countries that allow same-sex marriage from adopting Russian children.

Earlier Tuesday, dozens of anti-gay activists picketed the Duma. One of them held a poster that read: "Lawmakers, protect the people from perverts!" while others held Orthodox icons and chanted prayers.

Russian and foreign rights activists have decried the bill as violating basic rights.

"Russia is trying very hard to make discrimination look respectable by calling it `tradition,' but whatever term is used in the bill, it remains discrimination and a violation of the basic human rights of LGBT people," Graeme Reid, LGBT rights program director at Human Rights Watch, said Tuesday in a statement.

Russian officials have rejected the criticism. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov defended the bill in February, saying that Russia does not have any international or European commitment to "allow propaganda of homosexuality."

The widespread hostility to homosexuality is shared by much of Russia's political and religious elite.

Lawmakers have accused gays of decreasing Russia's already low birth rates and said they should be barred from government jobs, undergo forced medical treatment or be exiled.

An executive with a government-run television network said in a nationally televised talk show that gays should be prohibited from donating blood, sperm and organs for transplants, while after their death their hearts should be burned or buried.

The bill's adoption comes 20 years after a Stalinist-era law punishing homosexuality with up to five years in prison was removed from Russia's penal code as part of the democratic reforms that followed the Soviet Union's collapse.

When I first heard about the anti gay russian law I felt it was so wrong as there are so many young people struggling with their sexuality.   By not being given any information or allowing them discuss there feelings with people in the community.  will make them feel that if they are gay that it is wrong.  The government should not be putting there personal beliefs onto a whole country.  I feel that with the olympics being held in Russia that these laws will make some athletes not feel proud abut who they are.  Every person has the right to be proud about themselves and I believe that it is hard enough for a young person to come forward if they are gay that this law will only push them back more and make them feel bad about themselves.  I also believe that laws like this are prompting bullying to people who are gay.  I think the government should not be allowed to pass such laws.

Pressure

Sometimes is never quite enough
If you're flawless, then you'll win my love
Don't forget to win first place
Don't forget to keep that smile on your face
Be a good boy
Try a little harder
You've got to measure up
And make me prouder
How long before you screw it up
How many times do I have to tell you to hurry up
With everything I do for you
The least you can do is keep quiet
Be a good girl
You've gotta try a little harder
That simply wasn't good enough
To make us proud
I'll live for you
I'll make you what I never was
If you're the best, then maybe so am I
Compared to him compared to her
I'm doing this for your own damn good
You'll make up for what I blew
What's the problem ...... why are you crying
Be a good boy
Push a little farther now
That wasn't fast enough
To make us happy
We'll love you just the way you are if you're perfect

Shakespeare's Opinion of Love

In Romeo and Juliet  Shakespeare’s thoughts on relationships are represented in the relationships between Romeo and Rosaline and Romeo and Juilet.  Shakespeare shows a lot of different relationships in his play but the main relationships are filled with tragedy.  Shakespeare seems to show that relationships are not strong and healthy but full of sadness.  Whether he was writing about love between couples or love between family members or friendships they all seemed to be full of heartache and very little happiness.  In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare shows that he does not believe in happy endings.

Shakespeare’s portrayal of love in the first act shows that love is a struggle and not true and caring.  Romeo is in love with Rosaline but she does not return his love.  Romeo speaks about the pain of love as he says “being vexed, a sea nourished with lover tears”.  This shows Romeo feeling tormented by love.  Romeo also talks about how the sea levels are kept high by the tears of lovers.  This again shows Shakespeare’s opinon on love.

Shakespeare himself was only married once at the age of 18.  He married Anne Hathyway and had 3 children with her.  Their marriage did not seem like a happy marriage.  When Shapkespeare passed away he left most things to his eldest daughter to be given to her 1^st born son.  They say he left only his bed to his wife.  Many of people of Shakespeare time questioned his love for his wife as he seemed more focused on his plays and writing.  There was a lot of questions about Shakespeare's personal life.  He seemed to favor men over women by giving his belongs to his eldest daughter's 1st born son even though she did not have a boy at the time.  (www.wikipedia.com) 

Romeo and Juliet’s love is very tragic.  Shakespeare shows Juliet very much in love with Romeo but their families are in a terrible battle with each other. Their love was almost over powering and was so dramatic that it wasn’t real. "Did my heart till now forswear it, sight! for I ne'er saw true beauty till this night" Romeo and Juliet dying for each other was tragic and shows Shakespeare’s opinion that love can not have a happy ending.  "These violent delights have violent ends and in there triump, die like fire and powder, which as they kiss consume".   He could have had a different ending where Romeo and Juliet leaving the city together but he chose the tragic end which showed his opinion on love and marriage.  "Two  households, both alike in dignity in fair Verona, where we lay our scene from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood make civil hands unclean.   From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life, whose misadventured piteous overthrows, do with their death bury their parent's strife."  The strife between the families did end after their death as each family was building a statue for the others child.  Shakespeare was able to show some compassion between the families and that time which showed that perhaps Shakespeare wanted his own battles to be resolved.

The play Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy representing some of what Shakespeare must have believed about relationships.  Many of the relationships in the play were dysfunctional there were very few representing healthy, normal relationships.  Even their family relationships were shown as a negative which could also represent how Shakespeare might have felt about his own family.  Shakespeare wrote many plays some were humorous, some were tragedies and perhaps somewhere in between the two you could learn more about the man then by just this one play.  Did Shakespeare's plays really represent him?

Mid term

a)  In English I have not missed a class.  I think that I am on task most of the time.  I am  self regulated and try not to waste time.  I try to complete all task in the time given in class.  Although I do not have a twitter account I have regularly checked all twitters.  I have never been late for class and try to listen in class.  I believe I deserve 23% in this.

b)  I have completed all 15 tasks on time.  I have completed the task to the best of my abilities.  I feel I deserve a 25% in this.

c)  I believe my quality of work is the best of my ability.  I feel I have always put in my best effort to get the assignments done well.  I notice that some of my classmates have done longer writing assignments.  I think my work compares well with most of the class.  I am going to try to include more quotes or support for some of my work.  I have noticed comments saying that I should use more examples to support my ideas.  I am including a snap shot of my favorite essay I have written so far.

I believe I deserve 20% on this.



d)  I believe that I participate in class discussions and try to help others with there work.  I believe getting on task helps other do the same.  I have commented on most of the class work although none of my comments stand out.  I know this is one thing that I have to work harder on to supply constructive criticism instead of only the positive.  I am getting used to doing things on line and expressing my self on line but it is taking time.  I believe I should get 20% on this.

My believe my overall my should be around 88%.

Soliloquy

The soliloquy I chose is in act 2 scence 5 lines 1-17.   In the soliloquy Juliet is waiting for the nurse to come back.  The nurse had been gone for 3 hours taking a message to Romeo.  Juliet is thinking maybe she could not find Romeo, she is wondering what could have happened.  Juliet thinks the nurse should be faster delivering the message to Romeo that she should fly back and forth like cupid with wings.  If the nurse had any feelings she would travel fast like a ball bouncy back and forth between Romeo and Juliet.  But the nurse is old and might as well be dead.  She is clumsy and slow and moves like lead.  Juliet keeps looking out the window waiting to see if the nurse is coming back.

I think the significant of this soliloquy is that Juliet is waiting for Romeo's response to whether or not he is interested in her or if she should forget him and go marry Paris.  His response could change the play completely if he was not interested in her.  Juliet is very anxious because she wants his answer to be yes that he loves her.  This is a very important part in the play.

I liked this soliloquy because it was a time that could change the play.  It is an important decision that she is waiting for.  I also liked the way it showed how anxious Juliet was and even though she truly likes the nurse she was getting upset because she felt it was taking so long.  It was funny how Juliet felt the nurse should fly like cupid, and not be so slow like she was dead.