5) Gay Rights

Anyone who’s been watching the news will be well aware that Russia is no place to be homosexual at the moment. With most Western countries becoming more inclusive, Russia seems to be back peddling straight to the Dark Ages.

Pride Houses have been set up at major sporting events since 2010. A Pride House is a temporary location at events that welcomes LGBT athletes, the first was set up at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. An attempt to install such a Pride House at Sochi was struck down by the Ministry of Justice. The decision was upheld by a judge that said the organisation incited “propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation which can undermine the security of the Russian society and the state and provoke social-religious hatred, which is the feature of the extremist character of the activity”.

A recent BBC reporter visited the mayor of Sochi and was told by him that there are “no gays in Sochi”. The interviewer cheerily advised him that he’d been to a gay bar in Sochi the night before. You would have seen the mayor’s brain implode had it not been for his twice baked, Soviet era mask.

Talk about backwards.

☛ More: What It’s Like To Be Gay And Live In Russia Right Now