It's a societal problem in certain areas of Europe and most of the world.
The problem is that while a majority of educated Russians/Eastern Europeans don't actually care about the sexual orientation of others, they aren't willing to care about their plight either.
In 2009 the Serbian Pride parade was to be restarted after an 8 year hiatus (similar violence occurred in 2001). At the time we were hard hit by the recession, the politicians were never more corrupt, people were too poor to pay for heating, food, and clothes, etc. There were problems that hit everyone in society equally (except the 1%) and when the news came out that this parade was to be organised, financed, policed, and broadcast, people started using them as a scapegoat.
"Why do your problems have to come to the limelight now when my child can't afford school books?" This is flawed logic, of course, but it's just an explanation of the general mentality. "If you keep your mouth shut you can suffer like us", "don't come out of the closet and you'll be fine", etc.
Constitutionally they are protected (not in Russia anymore) and the church has better things to do than care about gays, so their problems are perceived as shallow and unnecessary. People just don't see how much they really are ostracised, because they are in a huge minority in our societies and traditionally hidden away.
It's similar in Russia. People are poor. People are cold and hungry. The little empathy they can muster is not for some marginalised group, it's for people just like them. Add to that the problem of western media using this as serious propaganda against Russia and people begin to change their apathy into hate. And when that happens, and the West isolates Russia again, the youth use it as an excuse to behave in a tribal manner where the "gays" are the symbol of Western society and media.
It's awful but it's important to understand why it's happening and not just come up with anti-Russian typical propaganda.
Think of a park when you were children. There was always that one little kid that wanted to play football with you and you wouldn't let him. Then when all the parents came over, wagging their fingers, telling you how you should let him play and telling you off for excluding him, you all hated him more.
Childish, but sociologically its important to know how the process is occurring to really stop it.
