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Updated 10.50pm
RUSSIA HAS PASSED a controversial law banning transvestites, transsexuals and people with other so-called “disorders” from driving, prompting sharp criticism from rights activists, including a prominent Kremlin advisor.
The legislation, which took effect this week, says its aims at lowering the country’s high death rate from road accidents.
“Disorders”
It prohibits people diagnosed with a range of medical, personality and gender identity disorders from taking the wheel.
Though these include blindness and epilepsy, it also lists transvestites and transsexuals as well as people with sexual fetishes, voyeurs, paedophiles, pathological gamblers and kleptomaniacs
Passed by government decree signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the law follows other legislation viewed as discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation.
Since returning to the Kremlin for a third term in 2012, President Vladimir Putin has listed “healthy family” and traditional values as priorities and pushed an increasingly conservative agenda.
This has included a law banning any so-called “propaganda” or display of homosexuality in front of minors, which was decried by rights activists, Western government and stars including Madonna as a crackdown on gays and lesbians.
Russia has also banned adoptions by gay parents.
While Moscow formally decriminalised homosexuality in 1993, homophobia remains socially acceptable and few public figures have come out as gay. Human Rights Watch in December slammed Putin’s government for what it called “inaction” against rising homophobic attacks.
Reaction online
Much of the reaction online has been of bafflement or upset:
Backing the law
Those backing the new law include Vitaly Milonov, a regional lawmaker in Saint Petersburg and one of the strongest supporters of the law against gay “propaganda”. He praised it as an “absolutely correct and timely decision,” in comments to the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.
“Those doctors and sex experts who oppose it are themselves basically perverts,” said Milonov, known for past homophobic outbursts.
A member of the rights council that advises the Kremlin, however, publicly challenged the new driving code as a potential breach of human rights.
Yelena Masyuk, a journalist, highlighted the “possible unfairness of removing the right to drive for those suffering from disorders of gender identity and sexual preference,” in a reaction Thursday on the council’s website.
“I don’t understand why, for example, people with fetishes, kleptomaniacs and transsexuals can’t drive a car,” she wrote. “It seems to me that this is a breach of the rights of Russian citizens.”
Russia needs to “study global practice” and “judge whether a ban on people with fetishes, exhibitionists, voyeurs, kleptomaniacs and others from taking the wheel is well-grounded,” she wrote.
It was not immediately clear how the law would be enforced, but Russians must undergo a medical exam to obtain a licence so anyone “diagnosed” by a doctor with any of the listed conditions could presumably be refused.
Critics of the law
The Association of Advocates of Russia for Rights joined the critics with a statement saying the driving code “obviously contradicts international norms and standards.”
By banning driving for “all transgender, bi-gender and asexual people, transvestites, cross-dressers and people who need gender correction (surgery)”, it could apply to many high-profile actors and pop stars popular in Russia, the legal advocacy group said.
This could include popular drag performer Verka Serdyuchka who performed at the Eurovision Song Contest for Ukraine, it noted.
- - © AFP, 2014 with additional reporting Aoife Barry
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They will have cans soon with no identifying package on them like the fags. Its gone too far. No ads made me start drinking just pure curiosity
the last time i have heard from kelly he was on rte defending cardiff in the finance department.
What I don’t understand is why, if they are going to ban it, it’s not banned entirely. Why are Arts and cultural events excluded? Drink companies will simply start advertising when concerts are on, when cultural events are on, buy naming rights to festivals etc. This will worsen the supposed problem. A bunch of fifteen year old lads watching a football match are more likely to want to play football after rather than have a pint of Heineken. This won’t be the case when they go to the next big concert sponsored by Heneken, Absolute vodka and Druids.
The solution is simple ; add a sports/health tax on all alcohol sales – euro a bottle , 10 cent a bottle or whatever ;
The Drinks industry contributes 30 million euros to sport; that’s seven bottles of beer per person per year at a euro per bottle ! ;
Labour can go f**k themselves if they try and introduce this, are they dumb or what?? our sports teams like Munster Rugby Irish football will become less competitive as a result I have often been to Heineken Cup games and even though there are ads everywhere i don”t feel the need to get bladdered
What exactly would happen in the case of a pan-European event such as the Heineken Cup?
It would probably mean the end of the Guinness Autumn Series too :(
French have alcohol ban in sports, when rugby matches are played the advertising hordings say H Cup instead of Heineken, also in football matches like Champions league I often see teams who are sponsored by drinks companies wear their jersey with no sponsor just for that one match
Yes, this issue absolutely calls for curse words and for calling other people dumb.
If I’m gonna get hammered I’m gonna do it regardless of advertising. Will the Heineken cup become the cadbury’s cup or will the junk food advertising ban stop that too?
We’ll just call it “The Cup”!
Two teams one cup
The drink responsibly heineken european cup
Perhaps you are too late to save Andrew, but perhaps the idea is to help younger generations
The younger generation are gonna get hammered if they want. It’s up to parents to encourage a good lifestyle and good common sense. I see alcohol advertising everywhere and it doesn’t make me wanna get hammered!
I don’t know how many deserano ads I’ve seen recently and I’ve no interest in it. Alcohol sponsorship of major league sports funds the sport itself. If you take away the Heineken cup there will be less following of European rugby, resulting in less interest in the sport. Meaning kids will have more time to go out and get hammered because there’s nothing else to do.
I know a lot of people who lost interest in the magners leave when it became the rabo direct league.
There’s also no evidence to support the claims on alcohol sponsorship but direct evidence to prove that it didn’t make any difference in France.
If the drinks companies are stopped from sponsoring sports were will the money come from to ensure there are such sports events and the teams in Ireland to compete in them?
Rabodirect Pro12/Aviva Stadium/Three sponsor the national football team/Allianz Football & Hurling League/Airtricity League of Ireland.
There’s plenty of non booze sponsors.
The banks! :D
Don’t forget many of our sports teams have multiple sponsers Ireland soccer may be sponsored by 3 but also have Carling on board as well
Sorry meant Carlsberg
Agreed, but its still a fraction of what the main sponsor pay.
I think the ban is unnecessary. My point above is just that there’s tons of non alcohol sponsors, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Think Everton were the only premiership team with a alcoholic drink sponsor last season? That said bookies/gaming companies probably aren’t the best alternative.
So what he’s saying is that advertising doesn’t work . Ha
Unfortunately studies show that it does but that it doesn’t have an immediate effect. Advertising is based on studies of our long term memory ….therefore long exposure and repetition are most effective .
Long exposure and repetition…that sounds precisely like the kind of exposure to alcohol advertisement we get from a very young age in this country. I’m all for this ban, alcohol is the most dangerous drug in our society. Could you imagine the uproar if teams or cups were to be sponsored by ‘Affie’s Black Tar Heroin’ or ‘Pedro’s Columbian Coke’?!
Good old labour ban drink sponsorship from working class sports and allow sponsorship for arts and culture for the elite, so labour are no longer for the ordinary people
art and culture for the elite? are you for real?
They clearly feel its worth the money! Tobacco companies used to use the same counter arguments that the drink lobby are using now! First they will dispute the harmful to health claims, then when that’s no longer viable they will say its an individuals choice to drink responsibly, which is true, but unfair after decades of advertising have led people to believe that fun is synonymous with drinking alcohol!
In my opinion I don’t think that drink advertising has any impact on the number of people that drink. I’d like to know what the incidence of smoking is now compared to when they were allowed to advertise. Considering the massive anti smoking campaigns etc. that go on now it should have had a very dramatic fall. It is only a hypothesis of mine but advertising for these companies will generate no new customers for drinking but merely promote one brand over the other.
The smoking issue was raised on prime time when discussing this alcohol banning issue a couple of months ago, it was stated on that program that the anti-smoking campaigns and advertising bans have had virtually no impact.
Alcohol companies advertise for different reasons to tobacco companies. Tobacco companies advertise to get someone hooked on a brand. Most smokers start socially, thus showing that their advertising works.
Drinks companies advertise to get someone to drink their product as opposed to the competitions product. The psychology behind each is different.
Advertising alcohol doesn’t need to change – what needs to change is the attitude towards alcohol. Many nations actually drink a lot more than the Irish do, but very few have the problems that go with it.
Drinking in Ireland is done for the result – the inebriation – people go out specifically to get drunk. In most other countries, alcohol is to be enjoyed in conjunction with an activity – usually eating dinner, having lunch, meeting friends. In France for example, people will be aware of the idea that one goes to a cafe for lunch and enjoys a leisurely glass of their tipple with their food, and usually a glass of water.
Michael McDowell wanted to change to this model, and it’s a pity he didn’t succeed – but unfortunately he listened to the voters, who apparently know best.
So then the tobacco companies could also have said that they were only promoting one product over another! Alcohol is not a bad thing, but constant exposure to it seems to be having a bad effect on people! Does anyone really think we have a healthy attitude towards drinking?
Well, yes. That’s the point of any advertising – no? The ulterior motives are different.
Also, smoking is bad from the first cigarette onwards. There are no benefits to it. Alcohol can actually have health benefits – if enjoyed responsibly.
You’re dead right Ted. Watching the Heineken cup might make me want to have a Heineken instead of a carlsberg but that’s all
Lads, there is a HUGE drinking problem in this country. The amount of people getting absolutely langers at the weekend has to decrease! How do alcohol advertisements make sports such as rugby and GAA more competitive? It doesn’t. It just gives the fans an excuse to get pissed and do the “Irish” thing that is now embedded in our culture. Everything has to be celebrated with a few tins.
Now I’m not against people having a few pints, that’s fine by me, my father works in a brewery- but even with fifteen and sixteen year old youths nowadays getting drunk out of their mind every weekend, I think we’ve got a bigger problem on our hands…
Cian,
The biggest reason young people don’t drink in this country is sports… How many guys gave up a Saturday Night because of a match on Sunday… High class competive sport encourages the lower standards, look at Rugby…
Now if the Governent wants to replace the money that will be taken out of High Class sport so as not to impact overall parcipation in sport, I am fine… But at the moment this move looks a bit short sighted…
Finally, The problem we are trying to address the over consumption of alcohol… Over indulagence of anything is bad… If they want to really stop this just arrest everyone who had over 6 pints…
Under this premise we should ban Tesco advertising because of obesity…
I completely agree. I’m not against having a pint at a match or a brand like Heineken advertising a match- in fact I think it would be wrong if they stopped serving drinks in places like The Aviva and Croke Park for example.
However one thing I thought was pretty stupid and I know its a bit off topic but remember when Munster were playing Leinster a few years back? When they were deciding whether or not they should open the pubs on Good Friday- it was on the front pages of all the papers. More important things deserve to make the news.
While accepting the need for some form of sponsorship it needs to be stated that alcohol is the drug that is still destroying the most lives and collaterally families of abusers.
It’s about time a new form of sponsorship was initiated.
I have no problem with drinks companies sponsoring events. I think it promotes a product, rather than getting bladdered. People will still drink whether it’s the Heineken Cup or the Cheno-Unction Cup (A quare name but great schtuff!). They stopped tobacco advertising, put ugly pictures and warnings all over the pack and now they’re removing branding, but you still have idiots who smoke.
It won’t change anything, so why penalise groups who rely on sponsorship to remain in existence?
It doesn’t work….that’s why we charge the drinks companies hundreds of thousands for the privilege to sponsor ….because it doesn’t have any effect…it’s only opinion….no wait hang on….
So people only drink because of advertising……no wait hang on……
Also drinking has been decreasing in Ireland, while advertising is in place…..oh wait hang on….
Educated adults should be allowed to make the decisions they wish in a free country, even if that is detrimental to themselves….with out interference by others. Those are the principles of an enlightened free republic…..
…..oh wait hang on…..
educated adults making decisions even if it is detrimental to themselves without the interference of others…is that what you really think when your in accident and emergency and its full of drunken idiots causing mayhem….or if youve been ‘so detrimental to yourself’ that you inevitably end up clogging up the health care system expecting to be taken care of …really…the principles of an englightened free republic…christ spare us the bull shit on such a pleasant summer day please…
did you just make up that stuff about drinking decreasing as well….you can read up the stats on the OECD site for alcohol consumption here showing how we compare to other countries and see the overall picture since the 1980….
Alcohol consumption is down 19% since 2001, as per the revenue commissioners, which is an acknowledged fact by anyone who know the facts.
Quote
“Alcohol consumption in Ireland declined by 12.5% between the years 2007 and 2012, and has fallen by 19.1% since consumption levels peaked in 2001. The current average consumption levels are at 11.681 litres of alcohol per adult per annum (lpa). A decrease of 0.5% on last year’s figure of 11.743 lpa. In 2001, the lpa was 14.44.”
http://www.drinksindustry.ie/news.php?intPageID=4&intSectionID=112
Also yes personal freedoms will lead to some individuals going overboard and perhaps ending up in hospitals. However this is not a reason to allow a nanny state and the abolishment of personal responsibility and the idea of adulthood.
We all pay tax and all deserve treatment in hospitals and emergency room irrespective of your simple minded judgemental puritan views.
Where do you draw the line? And by the way, everyone ends up “clogging up” the healthcare system as you phrase it. You will get old and require care, on the balance of all probabilities.
Lets ban anyone from healthcare that do not meet your requirements, all preventable accidents ban them clogging it up, ban all smokers from clogging it up, ban people who are obese, ban ban ban………….Go live in a repressive dictatorship will ya
More moralistic mumbo jumbo. Short sighted thinking. Without this sponsorship money the gap in funds created would be impossible to fill. If alternative funds were available I still think its ridiculous. Our society doesn’t see adds for alcohol and suddenly go out and get drunk. Give us some credit
The massive budgets these companies put into advertising would suggest otherwise…but I’m sure you know better than decades of advertising research.
Welcome to Ireland, the world’s most annoying socialist nanny state. Let people make decisions for themselves. I’ve yet to hear of any causal link between sport sponsorship and alcohol consumption. This is the usual rubbish produced by nosey interest groups in Ireland who’s only interest is self interest and justifying their existence.
Stick to supporting Sean Quinn, Kelly!
What gives politicians the right to interfere with the sponsorship of sport?
A step too far!
Enda should stop this interference!
This doesn’t make much sense unless you have a complete ban on alcohol advertising i.e. films etc. Also while they are at it maybe they should ban pubs from showing sporting events as surely, based on this logic, this just encourages us sheep to drink more
The free world we are used too is disappearing as we look on. The Irish nanny state continues to strengthen its grasp! If these companies are banned advertising at sporting events, there are plenty of other places they could advertise. How about more massive billboards on all roads?
The concern is that important funding will be taken away from various sports clubs that are unattractive to other sponsors such as financial institutions, pharmaceutical, and communication/IT providers.
What will be interesting is if bars and/or restaurants are included in the ban by association. This could mean bad news for small GAA/football and other small clubs. What about sponsoring specific prizes for amature competitions?
The Irish sporting bodies are in the hands of the alcohol lobby and have done so for years. I wouldn’t put it past the former head of the GAA to have some invested interest in keeping the advertisements there.
I’d rather see this time, resources and effort going into banning smoking in public places
Id rather stub a smoke out in a smoking-naxis eye-ball and get them banned from A+E!…..go chase after some cars and complain…..on the M1 northbound preferably!!
When they banned cigarette advertising in the UK profits for cigarette companies went up on average. The same amount of people smoked but the companies no longer spent money on advertising trying to steal customers away from each other. Heineken don’t advertise to get teetotallers to start drinking, they do it so that people will drink Heineken instead of Budweiser. The only way that has been shown to dissuade people from drinking is by increasing the price and that won’t hurt our beloved rugby and GAA teams.
Why doesn’t the government worry about something that’s really important, like the state of the economy.
I have one drink for the first half of the game and a second drink for the second half of the game and that’s it personally hate when people are walking up and down the stand the whole way through a match getting drinks….don’t feel the need to go out and get absolutely hammered at a match because it’s sponsored by a drinks comapany
2020!!! Who cares…..
Well then it’s my opinion that it should be banned !
While I don’t agree with banning sports sponsorship associated with drinks companies, I find Philip Browne’s objections and claims that sporting organisations are ideally placed to promote drinking responsibly disingenuous in the extreme. What were drink-free stands and terraces in the old Lansdowne are now areas of near binge-drinking during rugby matches.
Yes, fans got tanked up before and after games in the past, usually in bars and hostelries outside the ground. But now this facility is extended to the viewing areas surrounding the pitches. This is pure greed on behalf of the IRFU and frankly, makes hypocrisy of Browne’s stance.
The GAA and FAI at least keep the viewing areas drinks free during games and are to be admired for doing so.
What bullshit this ban will be if they wanted to stop youngsters drinking they should put the legal age up to 21s simple the reason they didn’t do it was because of the youth council of Ireland protesting makes sense this country not a bit of it Leo car asker came out and said in France this ban hasn’t worked it did for the first couple if years after that it went up again this government is a joke as no radical ideas just the same lets tax and ban that’s it the only two what about putting garages on motorways owned by the government and use the oil off cork to supply it there’s just one idea there would be a thousand different excuses against it
What a joker!
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