system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is Russia so homophobic?

Why is Russia so anti-gay? It seems to have come out of no where.
gpt
Former russki here. 

There are three main reasons why Russia is homophobic. 

1) Russia is a country *far* from the forefront of modern psychology. It has historically viewed homosexuality to be a *psychological problem*, akin to disease. Russian mentality would dictate its easier to "lock these people up" than to unleash them into society. The mentality is *deeply* ingrained into the culture and language of Russia. Expressions such as, "йти в сумасшедший дом!" (get to a crazy house!) are very common and belittling when someone says something eccentric. This mentality creates a massive stigma against seeking help for psychological problems. It creates a culture of misunderstanding for the general populous, and a culture of fear for homosexuals. 

2) World War 2. The Soviet Union lost 30% of its population due to World War 2 and suffered the heaviest causulties. It's so bad that to this day, Belarus has *never* fully recovered. As part of a mass nationalistic campaign, citizens were encouraged to make BABIES for the good of the homeland! Homosexuals, not being able to reproduce, were seen as enemies of the state.

3) General ignorance. Outside of Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk - the HDI of Russia is on par with rural Mississippi. Isolation, poor education, poor access to information, poor *people*, etc, etc. This is a recipe for ignorance. 

At the end of the day, Russia still faces many socio-economic struggles. This includes underpopulation and low growth. Putin and other top officials have made it a mission to distract the general public with such ignorances and persecute its own citizens. This is extremely shameful and backwards, considering the progress places like Moscow have made in terms of quality of life, education and freedoms. Disgraceful.