After an hour standing amid a wave of colour at the gates of Downing Street, to the chanting united of "Gay Rights for Russia" I find myself thinking; I'm not sure I agree with this message! Surely it should be "Equal Rights for all people everywhere?" rather than dismantling the right of an individual into sub categories of humanity?
by Becky Graham | 3rd September 2013
The rights afforded to any human being are not, and should not be (or rather, realistically; "should but aren't"), determined by their status within society.
A human right is merely that: the right of the human to be treated humanly, to live freely, to be in the same regard and to the same merit as any other person on the same damn street regardless of their credentials.
And it is this that is the very nature of the onslaught of protest here: that an individual, or a group of individuals, are being denied a most basic human right because of their, in this instance; sexuality, in the same way that one might be penalised for their race; religion or gender.
The right of an individual to be free and live freely is not dictated by which category of human they fall under. You don't get 10 points for being black and allowed to ride the bus on a tuesday, or 12 points for being a woman and an extra hour off work if you're on your period. A Right afforded to an individual because they fall into a particular box is not, in fact, a Just, Right. it is a segregated right; the right that, you, as a black homosexual woman are afforded as many of the "same rights" as "everybody else" when…who the hell is everybody else? because I sure as hell have never met them.
We are all people, as diverse and confused and mixed up as any other, the idea that any one "category" of human takes presidents over what is deemed "Normal" to every other is not, and should not be, relevant in this day and age and it is the very nature of this idea which we should be protesting.
The very idea that any individual could be found to commit a crime because of their nature, is a concept which, not only declines to show any humanitarian principle, but in fact abolishes the very idea of what it is to be human; to encompass the diversity of man and celebrate it.
If I were to find myself in Russia today I would be a criminal, and why? because i fell in love and through no choice of my own, i just fell in love and I would argue, too; that love has enough of its own little punishments for it to require the irrational ideations of a jumped up narcissist in well tailored suits to dole out anymore.
In fact, the only instance where this line should be offered with any seriousness is as the punchline of a bad joke. "You are charged with falling in love; how do you plead?" "Gay!"
We all do, and should, stand behind the people of Russia as we stand behind anyone else; to fight for the most basic human right of the individual: to live freely.
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