Another weakness of Putin’s Russia that doesn’t get enough attention is the way his crackdown on homosexuality makes it so much easier for Western powers to recruit spies within his government. This was something the Soviet Union used to do in the past, and was the nominal (terrible, self reinforcing) reason for Eisenhower’s executive order banning gays serving in government. The arc of social progress in the West isn’t just about fulfilling the promise of the civil rights era for the last subgroups it was acceptable to discriminate against, although that’s the strongest argument for marriage and sexual equality. There’s also an argument that getting rid of the closet, or at least any need to be in it, is a basic requirement for a properly functioning national security apparatus, because it eliminates a primary vector for blackmail.