DAVID CAMERON TO ADDRESS GAY RIGHTS WITH PUTIN

It’s been revealed that UK Prime Minister David Cameron will address the issue of LGBT rights in Russia with President Putin at this week’s G20 meeting in St Petersburg.

Openly lesbian Conservative Party MP Margot James said in a tweet that this was confirmed to her by the Foreign Office.

“Europe Minister confirms that PM will raise anti gay discriminatory legislation and attacks on gay people with President Putin at the G20,” she said.

The heads of the world’s leading economies will gather at the global meeting this Thursday and Friday in Russia’s second largest city.

It’s also been reported that President Obama plans to meet with LGBT activists in St Petersburg during the G20 meeting, in a clear show of support for gay rights in Russia.

Obama recently told talk show host Jay Leno that he has “no patience for countries that try to treat gays and lesbians and transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them”.

South Africa will also be attending the meeting, although there is no news on whether President Zuma will bring up the issue of LGBT equality with Putin.

In June, Putin insisted that sexual minorities “are full-fledged members of our society and are not being discriminated against in any way”.

This despite his signing a ‘gay propaganda law’ that bans Pride events, posters, flyers or any attempt to promote LGBT equality in public. The ban also applies to the press, television, radio, and the internet.

Putin has also signed a law banning foreign gay and lesbian couples and any individuals living in countries that have legalised same-sex marriages from adopting Russian children to avoid them experiencing “complexes, emotional suffering and stress”.

According to LGBT activists, the enactment of these anti-gay laws has resulted in an upsurge in homophobic violence in Russia.