The Russian president is a true frenemy.
My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust.
His definitions of “relationship” and “trust” must be loose. Putin’s reelection campaign last year was so anti-American, Obama waited several days to place the customary congratulatory call. Then, the Russian leader bailed on the G-8 summit being held at Camp David. Throw in granting asylum to American security-secrets-leaker Edward Snowden and you’d be hard pressed to see the “growing trust” in the “relationship” between Putin and Obama.
But it was the conclusion of the Russian president’s op-ed that left me slack-jawed.
We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.
There should have been an asterisk at the end of Putin’s piece. God created us equal — unless you’re gay or lesbian. Putin’s ban on “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” is so broad that the lives of gay Russians and gay tourists in Russia have been deemed illegal. Putin banned the adoption of Russian children by same-sex couples in foreign countries. This also applies to unmarried, straight couples and single adults from nations that recognize marriage equality.
Given all this, Putin’s surreal lecture of the United States and our president is a bit much.
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