[Shaun]

As much as I find him questionable the hatred of homosexuals is at much more of a grassroots level than just "well Putin told them so".

There's not going to be a "strong leader like him" over here because the press is much more free and is going to tear everyone to pieces on every account possible. I daresay if a Russian journalist tried the kind of character assassination people over at the Guardian and Independent are free to do, they'd be out of a job or conveniently disappearing soon. They rank 148th out of 179 countries on the Press Freedom Index, and the government owns about 60% of newspapers.