Please Tell Me, What is the difference?

You all know of the battle going on in Ukraine and how a mad dictator has lead the world to the brink of World War III. In Russia they have passed a series of regressive anti-LGBTQ+ laws, lets take a look at them and compare them to state laws in the U.S.

Human Rights Watch reported that,

No Support
Russia’s “Gay Propaganda” Law Imperils LGBT Youth


Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth in Russia face formidable barriers to enjoying their fundamental rights to dignity, health, education, information, and association. In Russia, antipathy towards homosexuality and gender variance is not new—LGBT people there have long faced threats, bullying, abuse inside their families, and discrimination—but the 2013 “gay propaganda” law has increased that social hostility. The law has also had a stifling effect on access to affirming education and support services, with harmful consequences for LGBT youth.

Russia’s “gay propaganda” law is a classic example of political homophobia. It targets vulnerable sexual and gender minorities for political gain. When Russian president Vladimir Putin signed the federal law in June 2013, he pandered to a conservative domestic support base. And on the international stage, the law helped position Russia as a champion of so-called “traditional values.” The legislation, formally titled the law “aimed at protecting children from information promoting the denial of traditional family values,” bans the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relations to minors”—a reference universally understood to mean a ban on providing children access to information about LGBT people’s lives. The ban includes, but is not limited to, information provided via the press, television, radio, and the internet.

Let’s at the Florida’s proposed law that has gone to the governor for signature.

Here's what Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill would do and what it wouldn't do
Legal experts dissect whether the bill would prevent the “instruction” or “discussion” of sexual orientation and gender identity and which grade levels would be affected.
NBC News
By Matt Lavietes
March 16, 2022


Debate over state legislation that affects the LGBTQ community rarely leaves the halls of state capitols. But Florida’s Parental Rights in Education act — which critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has suddenly sparked a national war of words.

In recent weeks, leaders of global corporations, editorial boards of major newspapers and Hollywood actors have all weighed in on the proposed legislation, with some calling it “deeply disturbing” and others “noncontroversial.” Kate McKinnon ripped into the bill during a recent “Weekend Update” segment on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” The hosts of the ABC talk show “The View” mulled over the policy for more than seven minutes on air last month. And Bravo’s Andy Cohen dedicated a closing segment of “Watch What Happens Live” last week to slam the measure.

[...]

In its preamble, the bill’s authors write that their aim is to prohibit “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity.” But later, the actual bill states that “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur.”

While in Texas the attorney general wants to silence school Pride celebrations…

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Austin ISD clash over Pride Week events
Austin American-Statesman
By Chuck Lindell
March 23, 2022


A social media-fueled backlash to this year's Pride Week also resulted in death threats against Doss Elementary School teachers and prompted the school to move Wednesday's pride parade indoors, with police present, "because we were actually worried that this political controversy could possibly threaten the safety of these kids," district spokesman Jason Stanford said.

The Pride Week clash underlines increasingly sharp divisions over issues of sexual identity — a battle that has spilled into the courts over Paxton's opinion that gender-affirming medical care for transgender adolescents constitutes child abuse and into school libraries, where conservatives are pushing to eliminate books that they believe contain obscene sexual content, many of them with LGBTQ themes.

The Austin district has celebrated Pride Week for at least 14 years, with 2022 activities to be determined campus by campus along broad themes, such as "Differences are awesome" for Tuesday and "Know your rights" on Wednesday.

Paxton and other conservatives have focused much of their ire on Doss Elementary's published Pride Week agenda, which included the use of "community circles" — guided conversations on topics such as family and respecting differences. 

Does anyone see any differences?

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Now let us look at the Russian law that takes children away from LGBTQ parents, this is from Council for Global Equality.

The Facts on LGBT Rights in Russia

New Homophobic Law to Remove Children from LGBT Families and Individuals

In September, the Russian Duma introduced new proposals to accelerate the crackdown on the LGBT community, the most alarming of which is a draft law introduced by Deputy Akexey Zhuravlev that makes “nontraditional sexual orientation” a cause for denying custody to LGBT parents. It would amend Article 69 of the Family Code to provide the government with the authority to terminate the parental rights of individuals raising children with same-sex partners, as well as those who are simply suspected of engaging in homosexual behavior. This would add homosexuality to a list of grounds for termination of parental rights that currently includes alcohol and drug addiction and child abuse. This latest proposal is being justified on the grounds that the anti-propaganda law should apply within the family as well, thereby creating a justification for removing children from the “propaganda” that is manifest in the lives and relationships of their parents.

Update: Deputy Akexey Zhuravlev has withdrawn the bill from the parliament. A spokesperson for Zhuravlev noted that Zhuravlev's position hasn't changed and that the bill will be revised and resubmitted to the Duma. 

Down in Texas they have,

Texas bill could send parents to prison for providing gender-affirming care
The measure would redefine child abuse to include parents who consent to hormone therapy and puberty blockers for their transgender children.
NBC News
By Dan Avery
April 14, 2021


A bill heard in committee in the Texas Senate on Monday would redefine child abuse to include administering, supplying or consenting to provide puberty suppression drugs, hormone replacement therapy, or surgical or medical procedures to anyone under 18 “for the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment.”

The measure would make such acts a felony, alongside physical and sexual abuse and sex trafficking, although it carves out an exception for surgical procedures for intersex children.

The bill didn’t pass so the governor took matters into his own hands…

In Texas the Governor Abbott issued a policy to stop transgender children from getting proper healthcare.

As Texas targets trans kids, their families scramble to find lawyers
Ever since Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state’s child welfare agency to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their children, LGBTQ-affirming family lawyers statewide have been deluged with calls.
Texas Tribune
By Eleanor Klibanoff and Sneha Dey
March 4, 2022


For the last two weeks, a mom in the Austin area has been vacillating between rage and panic. Some days, she’s so fired up she feels like she could take on the entire state of Texas by herself. Other days, she just crawls under her weighted blanket and lets the fear take over.

[…]

This family hasn’t had a visit from Child Protective Services, but they know others who have and they’ve started preparing for the possibility that they could be next.

[…]

This latest wave of fear among parents of trans kids started two weeks ago, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legally nonbinding opinion equating certain gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender children with child abuse. Abbott followed up with a letter directing the state’s child welfare agency to open investigations into “any reported instances of these abusive procedures.”

So far the courts have blocked the policy from taking affect and President Biden has instructed Health and Human Services to take legal action against Texas.

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Now lets compare Russia’s law and the Florida bill and Texas LGBT policies.

• Russia: Law prohibits the discussion of anything LGBTQ.
• Florida: Purposed law prohibits the discussion of anything LGBTQ in schools.
• Texas: Attorney General block Pride Week celebrations.
• Russia: Law takes children away from their LGBTQ parents.
• Texas: Governor’s executive order take children away from their parents.

Does anyone see any differences between the authoritarian Russia and the states Republican states of Florida and Texas?

What do you think?