Wow.
So, sometimes people make fun of Russia. You know, the Cyrillic-vs-Roman lettering thing, "In Soviet Russia", Rocky IV. We get it: Russians are often unfairly stereotyped. This is a fact.
And sometimes - just sometimes - you kind of elect certifiable lunatics to carry out what could be called at a bare minimum questionable social policies.
And this is one of these.
Well, no shit.
Now, don't get me wrong: I'm sure it isn't spurious thing. I'm sure there's some logical connection that Russian lawmakers have made after watching, I don't know, straight-to-video LA-based cop movies where a transsexual stereotype gets into a rear-ender (and you just go ahead and insert whatever jokes it is you're thinking of here - no, you just go right ahead and do that. We'll wait. All better now?) and gets out and starts going off on a stereotypical rant. And maybe the subtitles were done in a half-assed way - hey, it was the VHS era, and you were lucky enough to smuggle in a pair of freaking Levis as an actual video tape of a movie by an Eddie Murphy knock-off - and maybe that gets translated as some kind of an oblique threat of castration. And maybe the Russians watching it panicked. Holy Saint Peter, did you see what that big gangly man-woman said? Did you see the way she was waving around that handbag? She threatened to cut off that upwardly mobile black detective's pee-pee! What could such drivers do in Russia? Should - should I even call her a she? What pronoun should we be using?
Sure. We've all been there.
But - fucking really?
At least it can't get any stranger.
OK, it was stupid of me to say that. All right? That was my fault. Clearly it could have gotten so much wierder. The fucking Russian Health Ministry issued that change - not the police, or the Army, or the whatever-the-hell the KGB is these days, or the Office of Ivan Drago, but the fucking Health Ministry. With the doctors in it. Okay, they're probably almost all bureaucrats - maybe they bring in some medical version of Anna Chapman for the meetings - but really they have a closer associations with presumed MDs than anyone else does. So they should, you know, have brains and all that. Yet...
Get it? Amputes = transsexuals.
Because, of course... the driving gene is located in the dick.
Oh well that explains it! we all cry, throwing our hands in the air. Of course! Now it all makes sense.
Jesus Christ. 21st century.
And here's the sobering kicker: there is fuck all you can do about it. The Americans aren't going to pressure the Russians on it, not really, and even if they did, the Russians would probably issue transsexuals pogo sticks to get around on just to be shits. Oh, you don't like our new initiative. Well, we just gave them all pogo sticks. Yes, to get to work on. Ha ha! my American friend, you may make whatever Freudian associations you like with that. In Soviet Russia, the State makes jokes against YOU!!
So, sometimes people make fun of Russia. You know, the Cyrillic-vs-Roman lettering thing, "In Soviet Russia", Rocky IV. We get it: Russians are often unfairly stereotyped. This is a fact.
And sometimes - just sometimes - you kind of elect certifiable lunatics to carry out what could be called at a bare minimum questionable social policies.
And this is one of these.
Russia bans transgenders, people with disorders from holding driver's licence
Melbourne, Jan 09 (ANI): The Russian government has reportedly banned transsexual and transgender people from holding a driving licence as part of its initiative to bring down the number of road accidents in the nation.
This decision of Russia has outraged human rights advocates who have branded the change as an "alarming violation of the rights of the transgender community," News.com.au reports.
The report quoted lawyer Shawn Gaylord as saying "banning people from driving based on their gender identity or expression is ridiculous and just another example of the Russian regime's methodical roll-back of basic human rights for its citizens".
Melbourne, Jan 09 (ANI): The Russian government has reportedly banned transsexual and transgender people from holding a driving licence as part of its initiative to bring down the number of road accidents in the nation.
This decision of Russia has outraged human rights advocates who have branded the change as an "alarming violation of the rights of the transgender community," News.com.au reports.
The report quoted lawyer Shawn Gaylord as saying "banning people from driving based on their gender identity or expression is ridiculous and just another example of the Russian regime's methodical roll-back of basic human rights for its citizens".
Well, no shit.
Now, don't get me wrong: I'm sure it isn't spurious thing. I'm sure there's some logical connection that Russian lawmakers have made after watching, I don't know, straight-to-video LA-based cop movies where a transsexual stereotype gets into a rear-ender (and you just go ahead and insert whatever jokes it is you're thinking of here - no, you just go right ahead and do that. We'll wait. All better now?) and gets out and starts going off on a stereotypical rant. And maybe the subtitles were done in a half-assed way - hey, it was the VHS era, and you were lucky enough to smuggle in a pair of freaking Levis as an actual video tape of a movie by an Eddie Murphy knock-off - and maybe that gets translated as some kind of an oblique threat of castration. And maybe the Russians watching it panicked. Holy Saint Peter, did you see what that big gangly man-woman said? Did you see the way she was waving around that handbag? She threatened to cut off that upwardly mobile black detective's pee-pee! What could such drivers do in Russia? Should - should I even call her a she? What pronoun should we be using?
Sure. We've all been there.
But - fucking really?
At least it can't get any stranger.
The change was introduced by the Russian Health Ministry last month.
OK, it was stupid of me to say that. All right? That was my fault. Clearly it could have gotten so much wierder. The fucking Russian Health Ministry issued that change - not the police, or the Army, or the whatever-the-hell the KGB is these days, or the Office of Ivan Drago, but the fucking Health Ministry. With the doctors in it. Okay, they're probably almost all bureaucrats - maybe they bring in some medical version of Anna Chapman for the meetings - but really they have a closer associations with presumed MDs than anyone else does. So they should, you know, have brains and all that. Yet...
As per the changes, a new list of medical restrictions will decide whether or not a person is capable of holding a licence in the country.
Although the list has been designed to crack down on the number of road accidents in Russia, it has outraged human rights groups because it lists transsexual, transgender and amputees as having "disorders" that could prevent people driving safely, the report added. (ANI)
Although the list has been designed to crack down on the number of road accidents in Russia, it has outraged human rights groups because it lists transsexual, transgender and amputees as having "disorders" that could prevent people driving safely, the report added. (ANI)
Get it? Amputes = transsexuals.
Because, of course... the driving gene is located in the dick.
Oh well that explains it! we all cry, throwing our hands in the air. Of course! Now it all makes sense.
Jesus Christ. 21st century.
And here's the sobering kicker: there is fuck all you can do about it. The Americans aren't going to pressure the Russians on it, not really, and even if they did, the Russians would probably issue transsexuals pogo sticks to get around on just to be shits. Oh, you don't like our new initiative. Well, we just gave them all pogo sticks. Yes, to get to work on. Ha ha! my American friend, you may make whatever Freudian associations you like with that. In Soviet Russia, the State makes jokes against YOU!!