Gay Teenagers Targeted by Russian Internet Gangs

Hi guys, 

I have been translating, editing and abridging lots of articles concerning LGBT+ rights in Russia. While I will continue to publish some of them on here, perhaps with some personal insight, I will also be starting another blog, exclusively dedicated to the translations of these articles. I will post the link as soon as I am finished.

In the meantime, here is a suitably depressing article which I have translated from the following Gay Belarusian News Portal, although the subject matter concerns Russia, not Belarus:

http://www.news.gayby.net/news/ehkho_krestovogo_pokhoda_na_geev_v_rossii/2013-07-17-7632

GAY TEENAGERS TARGETED BY RUSSIAN INTERNET GANGS

17 July

Caption: BANNED

The popular Russian social network site Vkontake has blocked the group #Okkupai-gerontofiliai due to 'violating the rules of the site'. The page was full of video clips of homophobic 'raids' against adolescents. One of the most recent items caused particular indignation: in the post, the creator of the group, 16 year old far-right activist Filipp Dionits Razinskii persuades a gay adolescent to perform oral sex on one of the members of the so-called “safari” gang, threatening to otherwise upload an abusive video to the internet.

The site newsru.com provides the following example of the boy’s emotional blackmail: “I know you don’t want to, but this is your only option. Otherwise this clip is going to end up online. Your friends will definitely see it. Your parents too. You’re not the first. About 4 people have gone through this now, and we haven’t uploaded a single clip yet!” At present the clip has been deleted from Dionits’s personal page, however one of his warning statuses still remains on the site: “New release! Young cock-sucker in need of fame! 500 reposts and there will be a new release”.

The current surge of gay persecution can be traced back to a recent vote by the Russian State Duma, which introduced a ban on homosexual “propaganda” and therefore de facto outlawed gays in the country (ed. or at least their public manifestation). The deputy chairman of the State Duma’s Cultural Committee even went so far as to call gays “mutants”. Some observers think that these teenage homophobes took their inspiration from this recently passed law outlawing “the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among children”, and from the recent ban on gay adoptions of Russian children. The youths are completely convinced that their actions are justified. They aren’t bothered by the fact that they are destroying these citizens’ right to a personal life. They continue to insult and shame young people across the country. Nonetheless, Russian Law does seem to indicate that the homophobic youngsters could face serious punishment.

The under-aged followers of the leader of the “Occupy paedophilia”* page, Maksim Martsinkevich Tesak, took it upon themselves to hunt down young people with “non-traditional” sexual orientations. They track down young gays and those who are suspected of having a tendency towards homosexuality. Having caught them, they then force them to speak to the camera and say “I am gay and proud of it.”

*Ed: yes, dear readers, once again, another conflation of consensual homosexual love and sexual practises between same-sex adults with paedophilia. Oh Russia….

They use the following tactics, designed by Tesak, to carry out their “struggle against gays”: they find young homosexuals on the internet, persuade them to meet up with them (ed: largely for dates, often pretending to be attractive young men. More about this in future articles…) and then carry out a degrading “educational chat”. This takes place on camera and the footage is then uploaded to the internet.

This degrading “educational chat” largely consists of a lecture on morals, taunts and insults (including, horribly enough, urinating on the young man). The video is then uploaded to the internet. The leader of the young homophobes is a schoolboy named Filipp, who started the “okkupai-gerontofiliai”* movement. A group of the same name was started on the social networking site VKontakte, where the videos resulting from these “raids” are posted.

*Ed: this title is a bit hard to translate but, needless to say, related to persecuting “perverts”

The young homophobes “work” actively in both Moscow and Tambov. At present they have “destroyed the lives of about ten people”, the newspaper “Moskovskii Komsomolets” writes. The amount of young people they have succeeded in luring online, to then ridicule them in front of the whole country, is written in the article.

Law Enforcement has now begun to look into the young homophobes' case. Law Enforcement officials have so far refrained from making any comments regarding the repercussions that threaten the young homophobes. The actions of Filipp Dionitsa and his partners could, at the very least fall under statute 133 of the Civil Code – coercion into acts of a sexual nature. (…)

Former child ombudsman of Moscow, Evgenii Bunimovich, took the matter to the public prosecutor’s office requesting that they check the actions of the self-proclaimed anti-gay campaigners. In his opinion the posts on the site contain indications of violence and physical intimidation.

Anna Efimovetz, “Nedelia” newspaper

Link to Moskovskii Komsmolets article (in Russian): http://www.mk.ru/old/article/2013/07/16/884583-sotsset-vkontakte-zablokirovala-soobschestvo-okkupaygerontofilyay.html

WARNING: Gay Propaganda. 18+

 If you are a minor, shield your eyes. Or read Dostoevsky to your grandmother instead. She's lonely. 

A beautiful, ironic meme making reference to the newest laws passed in the Russian Federation and showing a picture of  Vitalii Milonov, the author of the initial 2012 law in St Petersburg, banning the "propaganda of homosexuality and paedophilia" among minors. The caption translates as "Atheists who smoke and have a non-traditional sexual orientation and download pirate music from torrents....aren't having the best time recently."

So, as many of you will already know, I am moving to Russia. And as many as you will also know, I am getting more stubborn with the years and I like to express my opinions. 

But no worries, I probably won't get deported. And if I do, there's always Ukraine. Or Kazakhstan. Or that tiny village with Russian elders in Alaska...

In any case, I have started volunteering as a translator for some organizations, including LGBT activists, something which is a hot topic at the moment, given the new law signed by President Putin, prohibiting the 'propaganda' of 'non-traditional sexualities' among minors. This is basically an excuse to prevent anyone from publicly talking about LGBT+ people and issues in a positive light, as this may expose the poor little children to gayness. And as we all know, gayness is highly contagious. Why I turned 16 people gay just last week. All I did was invite them to my home, where I exposed them to countless hours of gay cinema, fed them rainbow waffles, spanked them with fishing rods and told them the countless advantages of being discriminated on a daily basis, rejected by your family and possibly even beaten without police repercussions. They were pretty enthusiastic.  

The law is fairly ill-defined. Here is a section of an article by travelandescape.ca 

In a throwback to the country’s authoritarian ruling, Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a controversial law that punishes people for “homosexual propaganda.” The law fines people—including tourists—up to 200,000 rubles ($6,240 CDN) for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.” For Canadians—where same-sex marriage is legal—it is unfathomable that Russia’s laws permit the government to arrest and detain gay, or pro-gay, foreigners for up to 14 days before they would then be expelled from the country.

So what is considered pro-gay? Anything from gay-affirmative speech to hand-holding; even displaying a rainbow flag alongside a maple leaf on your backpack is illegal. Recently in southern Russia, there were complaints that Elton John’s stage outfits fell under “gay propaganda.” While LGBT are being told they are unwelcome in Russia, with such vague definitions, one wonders if anyone who even looks like they might be gay could also be fined or deported from the country.

Beautifully enough, most people I have talked to seem to agree with this law. Often conflating homosexuality with paedophilia (yes, because two adults who mutually consent to love each other, which does not affect anybody but themselves, is obviously the same thing as an adult who abuses and lures a child, without their permission, and leaves them emotionally damaged...). Most people just don't like to think about homosexuality at all.  It seems just a bit too icky, for them. And anyway, many assert, it's against the bible! God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve! Jesus hates gays! But yes, I won't go into this. There are many beautiful sites, such as this or, if you prefer it in Russian, THIS. 

Here are some of the articles I have edited and translated within the first 2 days of volunteering.  The rate of hate crime seems to be quite high, and with the new laws, it doesn't look like many people will be able to speak freely of this kind of "propaganda" outside of internet forums without falling into the suspicion of Law Enforcement. I am not doing this as some sort of Jesus-like Westerner, thinking they will save Russia. They are more than capable of deciding how they want to live. I am doing this as a favour for friends, out of personal interest, and for language practice. I am therefore not an enemy of the state. In fact, I would like to drink schnapps with Milonov, maybeI should send him an e-mail? He's a cutie.