People protesting the anti-gay laws in Russia really have balls.
Well, or ovaries I guess. I mean it takes guts. Courage.
Is Omoh actually a name for that part of the world?? I’m guessing not…
If their patches don’t say Homo, their precious baby blue tankinis certainly do.
Not sure if the guys in the striped shirts are military, paramilitary thugs, or just yobs wearing surplus.
A telnyashka (Russian: тельня́шка, IPA: [tʲɪlʲˈnʲæʂkə]) is a dark
color and white striped, sleeveless or not, undershirt, which is an
iconic uniform of the Russian Navy, the Russian Airborne Troops (VDV)
and the Russian Naval Infantry (marines), initially by Soviet
predecessors of these troops. It has been a symbol of great military
pride for those who wear it gradually becoming a broader symbol of
masculinity and self-confidence. (wikipedia)
Definitely looks like it here, with the image flipped – http://imgur.com/wL8Uvj4
They’re OMON special forces and are part of the police system. This was their first ever meet-the-press event, organized to change the special force’s image from brutal and incompetent to professional and deadly. Filmed on May 10th, 2007 at OMON’s restricted training compound on the outskirts of Moscow.
I was curious as to this patch when I saw this a few weeks back. Clears that up. I’ve also seen pics of Russian hooligans beating up presumable gay people in Russian and they are giving a thumbs up but the thumb is bent. I can think of a few obvious meanings to this but does anyone know about this?
Heh. I’ve been in on this joke for a few years now. Lots of pics out there if you look. I do like the grey tiger stripe look.
I’d just like to say fuck you, Yelena Isinbayeva.
What the hell? I hope her lucrative invites to major athletics meets dry up.
Then I suggest you contact the sports shoe/wear companies that sponsor her and make your letters of protest public.
I wouldn’t hold it above the Murdoch Networks and the Limbaughs to digitally tweak the images and display them as evidence that them thar librul states now have a gay police enforcing the gay agenda.
What…what’s happening here? “LOL, this guy’s badge looks like HOMO” is a Boing Boing post? I’m not on 4chan by mistake?
If you’re trying to raise awareness about Russian police thugs, maybe you could just, y’know, do that.
Perhaps I am not very keen in Latin, but I think “homo” means “man”
And it means absolutely nothing meaningful in Russian, since the word for “homosexual” and any slurs derived from it do not particularly resemble “homo.”
Settle down. Sometimes the way people deal with injustice is humor. This is a lost-in-translation event which looks really ironic to Westerners (the flamboyantly dressed paratrooper attacking gay rights activists while cops with “HOMO” labels watch). It obviously has no irony at all to Russians. But I would like to think that if the gay rights protesters knew how ridiculous this looked to much of the world, they would see the humor.
Seriously… hats off to these dudes/dudets!
Wikipedia is awesome and free.
ОМОН—Отряд мобильный особого назначения
Active 1979–present
Nothing brings levity to homosexuals being systematically mistreated like jokes about fashion!
Note all the smoke from the guns - typical filthy Russian ammo. But it’s cheap and it goes bang.
