Anti-gay propaganda video goes viral in Russia
2003 demonstration opposite Downing Street, photography by lewishamdreamer on Flickr
Maria Kareeva reports on the negative reception of a Russian ad condemning same-sex marriage.
As the world is set to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community during Pride month, sexual minorities in Russia continue to face oppression. On June 1, the International Day for Protection of Children, a video campaign promoting Russian constitutional amendments published by the Federal News Agency (RIA FAN) sparked outrage on the internet.
YouTube, the platform on which the advertisement was circulated, has since taken down the video for “violating YouTube's policy on hate speech,” which prohibits encouraging hatred against sexual minority groups. The video is meant to be promoting constitutional reform, which among other things includes the amendment of Article 72 to define marriage as the “union between a man and a woman”.
The video, which sparked international backlash, is a hypothetical documentary-style vlog set in 2035, when Russia has evidently rejected the proposed constitutional changes and gay people have been given the right to adopt. An orphanage employee is filming as a young boy, Petya, is getting adopted by a male couple. The distraught child is introduced by his adoptive father to his “new mother”, the father’s gay partner, who presents the boy with a dress. The scene unfolds at the obvious dismay of the orphanage staff. The video then poses a rhetorical question “Will you choose such a Russia?” urging viewers to “vote in favour of amendments to the Constitution”.
The ad rapidly garnered widespread condemnation and negative reactions on social media for inciting hatred. A petition on the change.org website started by the Russian activist group The Brave Team has gained over 60,000 signatures calling for removal of the video. The petition is addressed to the owners of the popular Russian social media platform VKontakte and Patriot Media Group - the parent company of RIA FAN. The head of Patriot’s board of trustees, businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin - infamously dubbed “Putin’s chef” - has been previously sanctioned and criminally charged by the United States for his participation in a conspiracy to “sow discord in the US political system,” including the 2016 presidential election.
The LGBTQ+ activist group Stimul have also called on Roskomnadzor, the Russian state communication watchdog, and the Prosecutor General's Office to remove the video and conduct an investigation into its creators. The group provides free legal counsel to members of the LGBTQ+ community and their loved ones.
Actor Alexander Filimonenko, who stars as the gay partner in the video, has since issued a statement revealing that he will be voting against the proposed amendments. The actor took to Instagram to say that he did not wish to offend anyone or know the intended purpose of this project. “I would like to express my regret over the video I starred in. I am very sorry to have been involved in politics. By no means did I want to offend anyone,” said Filimonenko.
The anti-gay article comes as part of 14 proposed revisions, which if approved, will constitute the second drastic round of reforms to the Russian Constitution since 1993. The proposed amendments were first introduced to the Russian Duma, lower house of parliament, on January 15, with the initial date of the all-Russian vote scheduled for April 22. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the vote has been postponed to July 1.
Russian attitudes towards sexual minorities have changed over the last few years. Though same-sex relationships were officially decriminalised in 1993, anti-gay rhetoric and discriminatory practices are not uncommon in Russia. In fact, prejudice and stigmatisation faced by the LGBTQ+ community has grown more acute in the last decade. In 2013, the Kremlin caused international controversy by introducing a ban on “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” which the authorities believed could “harm a child's psyche”. The ban has since been used as grounds to arrest activists and preclude pride marches.
In 2014, Putin drew connections between homosexuality and paedophilia and said that Russia must “cleanse” itself of homosexuality during a television interview. Last year saw a spike in anti-LGBTQ+ crime rates, according to the Russian SOVA Center for Information and Analysis.
The proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage is widely seen as an attempt to disguise and detract prominence of the most impactful amendment that would ‘reset’ Vladimir Putin’s four presidential terms, allowing him to stand for re-election in 2024 and potentially stay in power until 2036. The Kremlin's most outspoken critic, Alexei Navalny, dubbed the amendment as Putin’s effort to remain “president for life”. In this, if nothing else, the anti-gay constitutional reform may succeed. However, it will not end or silence the battle for democracy in Russia.
Illustration by Valeria Fernandez-Soriano