Russian Official Fears Men Licking Ice Cream Has Gay Undertone
the crackdown has got tougher, with Russia's Supreme Court last month classifying the LGBTQ+ movement as extremist, even though no such organization exists as an entity.A Novosibirsk cultural official says these images showing two dudes eating ice cream in the snow (promotional photos intended to showcase how tough the local men are) are suspiciously “LGBT,” and he doesn’t want to see them displayed ever again.
https://t.co/XRui73Bg18 pic.twitter.com/nTQIhTm5NcThe law in effect bans anything deemed to promote a "non-heterosexual lifestyle." While it does not come into effect in Russia until January 10, 2024, there have already been reports of raids on LGBTQ+ venues in the country.Meanwhile, news outlet SibFM reported that Alexander Tarasov, the chairman of the standing committee on culture, had taken issue with a photograph intended to show the hardiness of Siberians in winter.
The picture taken in 2020 in the center of Siberia's biggest city, Novosibirsk, shows two men in beachwear from a tourism club enjoying an ice-cream in front of a digital sign that lists the temperature as minus 33 degrees Celsius (minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit).
Newsweek contacted Tarasov by email on Saturday.The aim of the image was "to amuse Novosibirsk residents and show that they were not cold." But Novosibirsk City Council deputy Svetlana Kaverzina told Sib.fm that the image was presented as part of a presentation of a municipal program promoting culture and tourism."The chairman of the commission considered that it was connected with non-traditional relationships.
