Some members of Russia’s parliament have sent a letter to the state communications oversight agency, alleging FIFA 17’s support of a recent LGBT-friendly initiative in England breaks Russia’s “gay propaganda law“.
And it’s not about dudes kissing. Well, not explicitly.
As The Guardian reports, last month England’s Premier League ran a weekend campaign called “Rainbow laces“, where players across one of the world’s most popular sporting competitions would wear rainbow-coloured laces on their boots in support of lesbian, gay, bi and trans players and fans.
Because this was in the game, and because that’s literally EA Sports’ motto, FIFA 17 joined in and offered an entire rainbow-themed kit free for download.
This has upset some Russian MPs. The country’s infamous 2013 “gay Propaganda law” prohibits “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” being available to minors. FIFA 17, being an all-ages sports game, is available to minors, and despite this being a tiny and optional update to the game, has some calling for drastic changes to the game itself.
“Every state has its internal laws and order; they need to be obeyed,” former Olympic gold medalist (and current MP) Irina Rodnina said.
A Communist party MP, meanwhile, has argued that EA need to “introduce changes to the programming code or the age classification of this information product.”
On the same day the Russians made these comments, EA announced that it had been named as one of the world’s best places to work for LGBTQ employees by the Human Rights Campaign.
Comments
19 responses to “Russian MPs Say FIFA 17 Is ‘Gay Propaganda’”
Sure, it’s not the diving, the unnecessary urge to remove their shirts or the hand waving theatrics… It’s the shoelaces that made soccer gay!
I always wonder why these ultra conservative religous types feel so threatened by homosexuals. You have to wonder, Are they hiding something?
I think it’s because they are worried that if people accept being Gay, they will realise that this big book of 613 rules has a lot of rules that make no sense. The Bible says you can’t lay with a man like you would a woman, people who aren’t gay love this line, but they also like to ignore the lines in the same chapter that tell you Bacon and Shellfish can’t be eaten.
And than there’s the obscure rules, it’s a sin to touch a woman who is having her Period and you have to smash all the dishes she touches. You can’t enter Church with a Pimple, that’s a sin.
Yup, The godly folk love to pick and choose what they follow in their religions. I still think though someone them, Especially the more outgoing ones with their hatred are possibly overcompensating for something they have buried deep inside themselves.
You are quoting Jewish law which only really applies to Jews (who wish to follow it).
Because the Christians are super selective about what counts as their laws.
Well yeah, you should be super selective. Why would you follow old law that has been superseded?
Why should you follow any law in the book at all then? They’ve all been superseded as we’ve learned a lot in the last couple hundred years.
1. Most of them are about not being a dick and about social justice. Help the poor and needy, don’t be greedy and selfish etc.
2. The early LAW was temporary until Jesus. No need to add anything else to it.
Except that even if you choose to discard the old-testament laws, which many of Christians believe are superceded by the New Covenant, you still have homosexuality being very specifically mentioned as a “bad thing” in the New Testament.
I’m not arguing that it’s correct, just that people seem to have this idea that it only appears among Old Testament sections that are otherwise ignored. That’s not the case.
I don’t think Russia is very religious, but this any LGBT thing has been going on for awhile over there. I’m not sure where it’s coming from.
Old fashioned bigotry. It can happen without religion, but religion certainly helps “justify” it
Well 75% of the country are Russian Orthodox. Which is really high when you consider the USSR history.
The thing is, what EA is doing is propaganda in this case…
Definition: information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.
Now, its not misleading as what there saying is clear, but it covers everything else. So, there not wrong, and are well with in the definition of what propaganda is. Gay rights is EXTREMELY controversial in Russia, and the government is strongly against it. So, is it really surprising they will go over company’s who do this?
It should ALSO be pointed out that there basing this of a Tweet, not the game it self. So…
“Every state has its internal laws and order; they need to be obeyed”
Oh cool, so you’ll be withdrawing from the Ukraine? … Don’t interrupt, chirping crickets, I’m waiting for them to say yes.
When it comes to the Crimea. You might want to get some knowledge about the place first. It won’t take long only goes back about 3 or 4 thousand years
“Tibet’s always been part of China”.
If Russia is so uptight, why don’t they have their own classification board in the first place?
Or better yet, just stop giving games to Russia altogether. Hell, don’t give them any goods at all.