“Homos‑masturbators” strike back. Homophobes in Russia are also being punished for “LGBT extremism”

“Right decision,” Vera Makeeva, a pensioner from Kurgan, commented on VK when the Justice Ministry first demanded the “LGBT movement” be banned as an “extremist organisation”.

Half a year later, a local court fined Makeeva 1,500 rubles ($18): a rainbow flag she had posted to her social media was now considered an “extremist symbol.” The administrative protocol was triggered by her repost of homophobic entries featuring the hashtag #YourFavoriteUnicorn and a photo captioned: “Welcome to the LGBT kindergarten! Who is QUEER? Maybe I should join LGBT too? Lesbians are so cool! Let’s draw a rainbow!”

“It’s my own fault—I hadn’t cleaned up my photo albums for 13 years, and people found it who were interested in checking,” Makeeva told Mediazona. “As for the photo, I took it from a Telegram channel and didn’t notice the trail of links. Why did I publish it at all? Because I am fiercely against this filth, and they were in Kurgan too.”

Following the Supreme Court ruling, LGBTQ+ mentions were completely outlawed in Russia. Books, films, and series face total censorship; at least 32 people across 14 regions are facing criminal charges for “LGBT extremism,” and administrative cases for “propaganda” or “extremist symbols” run into the hundreds.

Law enforcement operates on a well-worn track, and Makeeva’s case is far from unique: authorities are regularly charging the authors of overtly homophobic statements under laws meant to suppress the LGBTQ+ community.

“They locked me up with the explanation that I considered Zelensky and Macron fascist and gay”

Pyotr Voronin, a resident of Pyatigorsk, received one day of arrest for an image that featured both a swastika and a rainbow flag—both of which are considered “extremist symbolism” in Russia.

“I reposted a picture where Zelensky, Macron, and several other European leaders are shown with a fascist swastika and a rainbow. The FSB’s AI decided I was spreading propaganda,” he told Mediazona.

“In court, I asked the judge about patriotic films where actors do the Nazi salute and wear swastikas on their sleeves without being sent to prison,” Voronin said. “But they locked me up for a day, explaining that I considered Zelensky and Macron to be fascist and gay, which is openly advertised in the media. I asked if I should officially apologise to Zelensky. In short, the AI that reads our messages is a complete moron, and we mean nothing to it.”

Voronin’s outrage echoes the 2000s and 2010s, when Russians were routinely punished for publishing swastikas in historical or satirical contexts—from 1945 WWII Victory Parade photos to movie parodies. Only in 2019 was the law amended to allow extremist symbols, provided there is a “negative attitude” and no “propaganda”.

In some cases,courts are now applying this logic to homophobic statements in the context of prosecution for “LGBT extremism.”

“I dreamed of a country where life is luxurious”

Alimardan Ruziev,a host on Yamal’s Nashe Radio (apparently known there under the pseudonym Uncle Alik), published a post with a poem on his VK page in January 2023:

Three years later, an administrative case was opened against him.

Uncle Alik got lucky. He had originally added a disclaimer, so the court noted the illustrations were “placed precisely in a negative light”—and closed the case.

“I created a video criticizing LGBT, but the court didn’t bother to figure it out”

Vladimir Sugakov, a pensioner from Kuzbass, tried a similar defense. He was charged with “LGBT propaganda” for a slideshow of Pride photographs edited to a derogatory song by Sergei Trofimov.

“I created a video criticizing LGBT, but [the police officer] took screenshots and sent them without explanation. The court didn’t bother to figure it out and fined me,” Sugakov complained.

He was fined 100,000 rubles ($1240). According to his VK page, the pensioner is a committed homophobe who regularly uses the slur evropediki—something like “Eurofags”. But Russian courts rarely look into the specific brand of humour used by authors who subsequently claim they meant the exact opposite.

Georgy Rezankov, a 21-year-old teacher of history, social studies, and “fundamentals of homeland security” in Veliky Novgorod, was fined 1,500 rubles ($18) for demonstrating the rainbow flag.

One of his images featured German communists Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg next to a rainbow with the caption: “Aunt Clara and Aunt Rosa congratulate you on International Women’s Day. Kosher! Fashionable! Youthful!” Another image showed Honkler, a dogwhistling Pepe the Frog variety, wearing a rainbow wig. Following the police’s lead, the court deemed the wig an “extremist” symbol.

Rezankov asked Mediazona not to publish his comments, emphasising his “sincere negative attitude” toward “sodomites.” “And how did you even find me on Tel-agram?” the schoolteacher asked, further showing his antisemitism.

In St. Petersburg, a court blocked a poem titled “It’s Cool to Be Gay” by an anonymous author, despite its aggressively homophobic lyrics: “Let’s hit balls / Like billiard players / But we aren’t athletes / We are homos-masturbators.”

A Moscow resident was fined 100,000 rubles for a video equally homophobic and contemptuous of neo-Nazis. The two-minute clip, titled “Initiation into Nazis (boneheads),” showed a young man shaving his head, putting on skinhead clothing, and having sex with two similar-looking men, ending with a swastika and the phrase “Join our ranks!!!” The court considered this “LGBT propaganda.”

Other recent cases included a student in Karachay-Cherkessia fined 1,000 rubles for an image of Hitler with a rainbow flag, and a Kurgan man investigated for an image of Putin against a rainbow (the latter case was closed for lack of intent).

“I published an article against LGBT; there was a photo of Bishop Pezzi and a rainbow flag”

The court dealt most harshly with Father Grigory (Grzegorz Zwoliński), a Polish Catholic priest living in Kirov.

Father Grigory told Mediazona he has a long-standing public conflict with Paolo Pezzi, the metropolitan of the Moscow Catholic Archdiocese, whom the Polish priest criticizes for supporting the LGBTQ+ community. In February, he published a post about Pezzi, attaching a photo of the bishop next to a rainbow flag to “attract attention”.

“I was summoned to the migration service. It turns out there is a KGB office on the fourth floor,” Father Grigory recalled. “They immediately drew up a protocol saying I published an article. It was actually against LGBT, but there was a photo of Bishop Pezzi and a rainbow flag next to it.”

In court, he drew an analogy to swastikas: “Imagine I published a book about fascism, and on the cover is Hitler or a swastika, but it is against fascism!”

The court ignored the plea, fining him 1,000 rubles.

The priest’s problems did not end there. Because of the court-confirmed violation, Russian authorities annulled his residence permit and issued him a 50-year ban on entering the country. Having lived in Russia for 24 years, he is now unsuccessfully attempting to appeal his deportation from Poland, where he writes online about the revenge of the “rainbow church”.

Editor: Egor Skovoroda