Tag: Russia

LGBT rights advocates say they will fly rainbow flags in the stadium in spite of the threats LGBT soccer fans heading to the World Cup in Russia have already been warned not to publicly display affection, and members of the transgender community told to bring a friend with them to the bathroom to avoid attacks. Now there are reports of anti-LGBT Russians threatening violence against the community. Joe White of LGBT soccer fan group Pride in Football said it has received...

Assaulted by her family, this woman survived two oceans and a hurricane to find a safe haven You might think traveling a thousand miles or climbing any mountain might just be in the songs, but a lesbian couple proved there is no distance when love is a possibility. A lesbian has shared how she escaped her homophobic family in Russia by boat and sailed for nearly a year to Canada, Prospekt Mag reports. Elena is from Ivanovo, a city 250 km east...

The victim couldn’t believe there were so many onlookers to his attack that didn’t bother to call the police An outspoken Russian LGBTI and HIV activist has woken up in hospital with a broken jaw but has no recollection of the attack. Boris Konakov woke up in St Petersburg’s Alexandra Hospital on Monday 30 April. The provocative activist has a severely broken jaw that will require surgery and potentially titanium screws. Extensive tests revealed Konakov has comminuted fracture. Fractures of that degree usually...

This new viral Russian ad campaign will be the perfect antidote for those of you who have woken up each day over the past year thinking "Ugh, if only I could live in Russia!" While it is obviously the land of dreams, this video, suspected to be financed by the Putin campaign according to the New York Daily News, highlights one of the country's teeny-tiny little quirk - the government and many Russian citizens are soul-crushingly homophobic. The video...

Police allegedly told the couple they wouldn't protect them from mob violence. Earlier this month, a gay Russian couple who wed in Denmark had their marriage recognized at home, thanks to a loophole in the law regulating the recognition of foreign marriages. But after the news broke, authorities declared their passports invalid and opened an administrative case against them for “intentionally defacing an official document.” Now Pavel Stotsko and Yevgeny Voitsekhovsky have fled Russia for fear of further reprisal. Stotsko and Voitsekhovsky...

Officials are already working to amend Russian family law. Thanks to a loophole, a pair of gay newlyweds have “accidentally” become the first same-sex couple to have their marriage legally recognized by Russia, the Moscow Times reports. Returning home after getting married January 4 in Copenhagen, Russian citizens Eugene Wojciechowski and Pavel Stotsko took their notarized Danish registration forms to the Moscow registry office in an attempt to get the updated marriage page of their passports stamped. The newlyweds told Russia’s Rain...

Russia has reportedly banned delivery of the 2018 Warwick Rowers charity calendar. Last year, the popular nude calendar helped raise a six figure sum for the group's Sports Allies charity, an organization which actively seeks to remove homophobia from sport, while promoting inclusivity. Sadly, some fans of the Warwick Rowers will miss out on the latest calendar. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYoPd_6nQOB/ According to a report, customs officials in Russia seized a delivery of the charity calendar, refused it, and sent it back to the UK. Warwick Rowers...

Researchers have found that crimes against the LGBT community have doubled since the introduction of an “anti-gay propaganda” law in Russia. The law, which came into action five years ago, has seen a sharp spike in violent attacks across the country, reports Reuters. 200 out of the 250 crimes studied are acts of murder, according to the Centre for Independent Social Research. The number of sentences for offences against LGBT people may have increased to 65 in 2015 from 18 in 2010,...

Happy early-Halloween! With only a week and a half left till the ever awaited holiday of tricks and treats, there’s one video out that’s looking to use our need be frightened for good. Ask yourselves, what’s really scary? Answer? The fact that there are still countless countries and places in the world where being gay can end up getting you hurt or killed. That’s what award-winning short “PYOTR495” wants you to remember (while also entertaining you and freaking you out at the...

A gay couple from Russia seeking asylum in Germany has allegedly been questioned by a judge for four hours about their sexuality because the judge did not believe that they are gay. Pavel Tupikov and Igor Popialkovskii had left Russia after their lives were put at risk when a police officer blackmailed them. The two fled to Germany and are now in the process of seeking asylum and part of that process meant that Tupikov had to appear in front of...

New French President Emmanuel Macron raised LGBT rights and Chechnya in his tense first meeting with Vladimir Putin. The French leader met with the Russian leader today for the first time since his election earlier this month. During the pair’s behind-closed-doors meeting, President Macron raised the alleged purge of gay men in Chechnya, as well as wider issues regarding LGBT people’s rights across Russia. Macron, a strong supporter of equality, vowed in a joint press conference with Putin to be “constantly vigilant...

The United States is denying visas to gay and bisexual men seeking asylum amid the ongoing human rights abuses in Chechnya. This according to organizers with the group Russia LGBT Network, responsible for getting 40 men out of Chechnya, who spoke with BuzzFeed News. Russia LGBT Network spokesperson Svetlana Zakharova said they are having difficulty securing visas that would allow them to flee the country and find a safe haven from the abuse, calling negotiations with various countries “difficult.” While she didn’t...

The Russian LGBT Network has helped evacuate 40 gay men from Chechnya, where at least four people have been killed in a “gay purge”. Reports last month alleged that more than 100 gay men have been detained in the purge in Chechnya with many feared dead. Gay men are reportedly being beaten, tortured with electricity, and living with no water or food. In a Skype interview with NPR, the Russian LGBT Network communications manager described how her organisation has set up a...

Ten protestors were arrested and dragged into police vans Russian police rounded up LGBTI activists protesting the persecution of gay men in Chechnya. Activists staged a dramatic demonstration in St Petersburg, painting their faces with fake blood and pretending to be dead on the road. The activists also draped rainbow and Chechen flags over their bodies, reports the Independent. A group of ten protestors were arrested near the Anichkov Palace in the centre of Russia’s second biggest city. https://twitter.com/merr1k/status/858976425117921280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gaystarnews.com%2Farticle%2Frussian-police-arrest-activists-st-petersburg-protesting-gay-concentration-camps-chechnya%2F Russian police in full riot gear...