Russia: TV channel fined for LGBT+ “propaganda”

The first victim of the new Russian legislation against the LGBT+ “movement”. This Friday, a Russian court announced that it had fined a TV channel for LGBT+ “propaganda” due to a music video in which “two people of the same sex” “stroking” their hands.

According to the St. Petersburg court, the music channel AIVA will have to pay 500,000 rubles (about 5,000 euros at the current exchange rate) for broadcasting a video for the song “So Beautiful” from 2017 performed by Sergei. Lazarev, a Russian star who has twice represented his country at Eurovision.

The clip at one point shows two hands “caressing” each other, which, based on their physical “characteristics,” belong to “two people of the same sex,” the court explained in a press release, citing the record. According to this text, the interaction can be perceived as “sensual” and occurring between “people demonstrating their homosexual preferences.”

Hearing without a lawyer

This gesture could, according to the protocol, indicate that these “preferences” were “acceptable” and “equal to a union between a man and a woman.” The hearing took place without a defense representative, since there is no organization with that name in Russia.

In Russia, the law, condemned as a tool of homophobic repression, prohibits the “propaganda” of “non-traditional sexual relations” to any audience and therefore applies to the media, websites, books and films.

LGBT+ movement banned in Russia

On Thursday, the country took another step forward: Russia’s Supreme Court banned the “international” LGBT+ movement, opening the door to prison sentences for gays and activists defending their rights in Russia.

This new ban comes amid a growing crackdown on LGBT+ people, with Russia positioning itself as the standard-bearer of “traditional” values ​​in the face of the West’s perceived decline. In the last decade, their rights have been sharply curtailed under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, supported by the Orthodox Church.