Recognition of the international LGBT* movement as an extremist organization and its ban in Russia is “a form of moral self-defense of society,” says Vakhtang Kipshidze, deputy chairman of the synodal department for relations between the church and society and the media of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Previously, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the international public movement of LGBT* as an extremist organization and banned it in Russia, and the decision should be “implemented immediately.” The Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit. As the ministry reported earlier, in the activities of LGBT* people on the territory of the Russian Federation, “various signs and manifestations of an extremist orientation have been identified, including the incitement of social and religious hatred.”
“Recognizing the LGBT movement* as extremist is a form of moral self-defense of society. We know from the testimony of many Western Christians who adhere to traditional beliefs regarding marriage and family that the activities of LGBT movements* are aimed at displacing the Christian idea of marriage and family as a public, and the right space,” Kipshidze told RIA Novosti.
According to him, the very idea of a family as a union of a man and a woman in Europe is historically based on Christian doctrine.
“Therefore, the activities of the LGBT movement* in different countries are directed against the Christian idea of marriage, against the religious concept itself. And this, of course, results in the infringement of the rights of believers in countries where the LGBT movement* has received freedom of action. For example, Christian children at schools are forced to hear that marriage is not a union of a man and a woman. As a result of the activities of the international LGBT movement* in many Western countries, marriage is legally equal to LGBT cohabitation*," explained the deputy chairman of the synodal department.
He also mentioned cases in the West where LGBT* people sued priests who in their sermons called same-sex relationships a sin.
“As one can judge from what is happening in countries where LGBT* people are given freedom of activity, it has signs of extremism, because the logical result of its activities is the destruction of the traditional idea of marriage and family. I think that if such a movement is given free rein in Russia, it will will pursue the same goals as in the West. For us, this is unacceptable,” the agency’s interlocutor concluded.
* Extremist organization banned in Russia.