Wait a minute hold the phone. Is Putin the homophobic one? I'm sorry, I'm not Russian, or American or even British and in a world dominated by western media and people linking this dude to Trump for some reason I just get all mixed up and googly eyed. I mean, I don't know the dude but in almost everything I've seen they're portraying him in a negative light and I just? Don't know? What to believe? This question did not sound as stupid in my head two minutes ago, I'm sorry.

 I am glad you asked this. I understand what you mean very well, don’t worry. 

 Short answer: Putin is not at all like he is portrayed by USA. He is one of the most intelligent, well-spoken, diplomatic, and hard-working politicians I know.

 Directly, about his position about gays: watch this and this. There are a few translation errors, but otherwise the English version is good.

 He is linked to Trump for the simple reason that the previous government managed to establish in the eyes of Americans that Russia and Putin are Evil™ , and so if Trump is associated to Putin, that means he is evil too. 

 Long answer: more detailed geopolitic explanation below the cut

I’ll try to explain.

 Putin (and Russia) is portrayed in a bad light because USA is very russophobic (the reasons are historic mainly) and controls the vast majority of the mainstream media around the world. All the “American allies”, which are Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan and so on, are following and obeying USA, so “their” media is basically a more regional-centered version of USA state medias. All that to tell you, whatever path USA chooses to follow regarding an issue, the greater part of the media will choose it as well.

 I don’t think there was ever a moment when USA didn’t portray Russia in a bad light since the end of the WWII. Even after the Cold War, USA kept the “bad Russian” rhetoric, under Clinton and Bush, but it reached an extreme peak during the Obama administration. 

 Now, about the homophobia in Russia. In 2014, Russia held the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Obama and his cabinet were very upset about it, and wanted to spoil the event (because the Olympic Games, just like the World Cup that Russia is hosting in 2018, are a major source of cultural influence and an economic bonanza for the host if its economy is stable and developping, which is Russia’s case, and USA hates to see other countries successful because they want to remain a Hegemon). In order to do this, they attempted to boycott the Games, under the pretext that Russia is oh so very homophobic. Why did they choose the homosexual subject to pretend to be outraged over, I cannot tell. Maybe they couldn’t find anything else. In any case, they found the Russian law from 2010, and started a massive anti-Russian campaign across the mainstream media some months prior to the Games to influence the public opinion so the reason of their boycott would be seen as legitimate.

 Actual situation of gays in Russia: they cannot marry; and if adults are cought encouraging minors to become gay, they will face a fine (this law is not applied on the whole Russian territory, but in specific regions who voted for it. Russia functions a bit like the American states, each “state” which is called “region” can have differences in law) (and it is not Putin who wrote the law either). I agree that it is not very gay-friendly, but it is not at all as dramatic as the American media tried to portray. There are people who are convinced, thanks to this anti-Russian propaganda, that gays are killed or jailed or deported in Russia, which is absolutely not the case. If a person above 16 (sexual majority in Russia) decides to be gay, he can be so without any problem. After that, there are a lot of homophobic people in Russia, but that is not related to the government, and not Putin’s responsibility either. It is a more cultural aspect, and everywhere in the world there are homophobic people, even in the Netherlands.

 USA’s pretended outrage about the “homophobia in Russia” is ridiculous when you remember the fact that one of their closest allies and friends is Saudi Arabia, a country where homosexuals face a death punishment by law. And not only Saudi Arabia, the majority of Islamic countries have these same laws. Yet USA never made a scandal about that. Mainstream media almost never mentions it. And that is because they do not really care about gay rights. They simply attempted to harm Russia by boycotting the Olympic Games under a pretext. A lack of consistency equals a lack of principles.

 Anyway, their boycotting didn’t work, because the American allies did not want to punish their athletes and prevent them from going to Russia, so USA had to go to Sochi at the end. But they did succeed to manipulate the public opinion, and now plenty of people think that Russia is the most homophobic place in the world or that Putin is an evil homophobe. Especially kids on Tumblr. Which is very upsetting, because Russia is not even the most homophobic country in Europe.