Could you imagine a world where your friends and family would potentially disown you because of who you loved? Could you imagine in this same world, a scene in which the police would just watch as a crowd of hate-filled souls beat someone until they saw blood? For most people, this wicked world seems like a nightmare, but for the Russian members of the Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, this is the very world they live in.

Being gay is one of the most difficult paths to walk in this day and age, but being gay in Russia opens a whole new realm of hardship. Russia has a long and lengthy history with LGBT rights. The first oppressive laws against homosexuals dates back as early as the 18th century. Engaging in homosexual activity was illegal and it was even considered a mental illness.

Even though being gay was decriminalized in 1993 and took off the country's list of mental illnesses in 1999, it is still looked at with contempt and disgust. As of late, the Russian government has been taking aggressive steps into silencing the voices of the LGBT community of Russia.

In June 2013 , the Russian government passed Bill 6.31.1 which labeled all pro-gay paraphernalia as propaganda and also took away the right of a Pride Parade which is practiced by the LGBT community worldwide. The bill was passed because the country still looks at being gay as something unnatural.

A lot of the negative policies that the Russian government has put into effect against the LGBT community come from the country's most powerful religious organization, The Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Kirill, Primate of the Russian orthodox spoke of his contempt against gay marriage while giving his Sunday sermon in July. The primate stated that “gay marriage” is “a very dangerous sign of the apocalypse.”

The religious church has always fought for the oppression of homosexuals in Russia. When the New Revolution started in Russia in the early 1920’s, and being gay was decriminalized for the first time, the church fought hard and pressured the government to ban homosexuality shortly after its decriminalization.

Being gay is not a choice. Contrary to popular belief, it is not something a person can choose. Homosexuals are indeed different, but they are human, and no two people are the same! Human rights are applied to every person on this planet, but not every person on this planet sees every person as human.

The Russian Government and Orthodox Church has stripped their sense of empathy for the Russian LGBT community. In doing so, they devalue the worth of their citizens as they allow the uprising of hate groups to brutalize the LGBT community while Russian police do little about these cases.

What will bring forth the apocalypse is not gay marriage, but the senseless thought that one person is better than another. This is the evil that fueled slavery and lead to a German Holocaust. It is essential that no matter the walk of life, we accept others and love them because of who they are.