They have a very low fertility currently, and there are plenty of correlation between places that accept homosexuality as normal (instead of only tolerating it) and low fertility.
Of course, correlation is not causation, but what you think the majority of russians will think about the subject?
There's also plenty of (negative) correlation between the number of pirates at sea and worldwide temperatures, which is why the Pastafarians are preaching their gospel in full pirate regalia to try and stop global warming.
It means showing people not living in a monogamous stable relationship dedicated to upbringing of their kids, that it is "normal". I'm not a homophobe, so I guess I won't fuck off, asshole. I have nothing against gayness, I am actually a bit bi, also unmarried. However, I know that if everyone lived the way I do, this society would be MUCH, MUCH, worse off. Therefore I would not advertise my lifestyle and tell people it is okey, and they should live it.
Your lifestyle is ok, dude or dudette. Seriously. It is systemic problems of societies such as horrbile education system, emotional politics and various instances of "prisoners dillemma" games that are much more major factors that are detrimental to society well-being.
Being gay is not the issue, the issue is people not marrying or having kids and dedicating their lives to it because they see other people not doing the same. Thinking that's normal is good for the individual, but not good for a society. US is doing fine in that regard, but Russia is not, population is declining, people are not marrying or having kids as much as they did before, and lifestyle propaganda is one of the few things the state can do.
http://visualbooster.com/share/20130801230340534.png Here is graph which represents fertility rate in Russia (orange) comparative to Japan (red) and Germany (blue). It's obviously climbing up since economy stabilized. Now, would you expect huge increase after anti gay-propaganda law is established?
No I wouldn't, not just because of this single law. There also needs to be actual pro-marriage, pro-kids, anti-drug, anti-promiscuity propaganda at the same time. There need to be more proactive actions and measures taken, but of course that's much harder than some blocking measure.
The most reasonable conclusion is IMO that there is a strong correlation with developed countries, low fertility rate, and socially liberal values. The more likely connection is the developed economy and the low fertility rate, in general. Socially liberal people tend to accept homosexuality more.
