Elton John is “mistaken” regarding LGBT rights in Russia, claims Vladimir Putin.
The Russian President was responding to an Instagram post from
John, who said that he was deeply upset by prior remarks from Vladimir Putin that liberal
values were “obsolete” and that Putin’s
claim of non-interference with LGBT rights looks false in light of
the censorship of gay sex scenes in Rocketman in Russia.
“I have a lot of respect for him, he’s a genius musician, we all enjoy his
music, however i believe he’s mistaken,” Vladimir
Putin said when asked regarding Elton John’s
comments. Vladimir Putin was
in Osaka attending a
G-20 summit.
Putin claimed the Russian government had a
“relaxed and unprejudiced” attitude towards
LGBT people. But, he
added, gender identity decisions can solely be made by adults and so minors need to be “left alone,” noting
that Russian law bans “propaganda of homosexuality among minors.”
He additionally repeated the need to respect traditional lifestyles and not upset the majority view.
In an Instagram
post on Friday, Elton John
took issue with some comments by Russian president Vladimir Putin relating
to “this liberal idea,” which included a remark that the
push for larger LGBT
rights can’t supersede traditional views.
Putin made the remarks during an interview with the financial Times. in that discussion, he said that liberal views were
“obsolete,” however that
LGBTQ persons were fine with him.
“We have
no problem with
LGBT persons,” Vladimir Putin insisted.
“God forbid, let them live
as they want. However some things do seem excessive to us. They claim currently that children can play 5 or
six gender roles.”
He added: “Let everybody be happy, we have no problem with that. However this must not be allowed to overshadow
the culture, traditions and traditional family
values of millions of people making up the core population.”
John responded on Instagram with an extended message and a photograph of himself, his
husband David Furnish and their 2 sons.
The word “censored” was inserted across the photo’s center.
“I was deeply upset when I read your
recent interview in the financial Times,” John wrote.
“I strongly disagree with your view that pursuing policies that
embrace multicultural and
sexual diversity are obsolete in our societies. I find duplicity in your comment that you wish LGBT people to ‘be happy’ and that ‘we have no problem in that’. nonetheless Russian distributors selected to heavily censor my film ‘Rocketman’ by removing
all references to my finding true happiness through my 25 year relationship with
David and the raising
of my 2 lovely sons. This sounds like hypocrisy to me.
“I am proud to live in a part of the globe where our
governments have evolved to recognize the universal human right to love whoever we want,” he continued. “And I’m really grateful for the
advancement in government policies that have allowed and legally supported my marriage to David. This has
brought us both tremendous comfort and happiness.”