Realized the other day that I've been subjected to years and years of propaganda about Russia and Putin. Even correcting for it a bit in my head, it still doesn't seem like an amazing place to live. But is it better or worse for the average Joe?
My impression is that its 2nd world. Lots of modern technology, but shitty and like 20 years behind. Not progressive in terms of LGBT or women's rights. Definitely not a democracy and basically run by plutocrats.
Anyone have personal experience there?
Marriage specifically is less of a big deal in Russia than it is in the West in general, IMO. Civil marriages (no official registration) have been common since Soviet times.
Respect for gay rights is what's severely lacking. It's changing for younger people, but for older people it's like asking you to accept NAMBLA. Outside the insular world of theater/arts, you'd only hear of homosexuality as a thing in dirty jokes or prisons, and anything to do with prisons is highly stigmatized. People are just super ignorant. And it also gets lumped in with everything else new and foreign and poisonous coming in after the fall of the Iron Curtain - drugs, pornography, prostitution, bad TV, incivility.