An advert posted online for the ‘Mi Amore Fest’ event (Twitter) Federal agents have allegedly shut down a My Little Pony convention in Moscow, Russia, accusing the animated programme of promoting ‘LGBTQ+ propaganda’, reports news site The Insider. According to The Insider, the raid was conducted to break up an event called “Mi Amore Fest,”
Russia
Cinema export agency Unifrance’s annual international box office report for 2023 revealed on Tuesday that Russia was the top market in terms of admissions for French cinema last year. Given that Russia’s relations with Europe are at their lowest ebb since the end of the Cold War in 1991 as its ongoing war on Ukraine
Russian riot police detain LGBTQ+ rights activists during a St Petersburg march in May 2019. (Getty) Russian police have begun cracking down on LGBTQ-friendly clubs and venues in Moscow, just days after a Supreme Court ruling branded LGBTQ+ activism “extremist”. Overnight raids across the Russian capital saw clubs, saunas, bars and more overrun with police
EXCLUSIVE: Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, Hollywood swore off the booming and lucrative box office territory, with the first studios, Disney and Warner Bros, respectively pulling their big movies out of the country, Turning Red and The Batman. However, this past weekend, Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 made it through
Brittney Griner will serve nine years in a Russian penal colony. ( KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images) Lawyers for Brittney Griner have filed an appeal against her daunting nine-year prison sentence in a Russian penal colony. The queer US basketball, 31, was arrested in February at an airport near Moscow after cannabis-infused cartridges were found in
Joe Biden is seeking to free Viktor Bout (L) to ensure Brittney Griner’s freedom. (Getty Images) The Joe Biden administration has offered to exchange convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout as part of a deal to release detained basketball star, Brittney Griner. Queer WNBA star Griner is on trial for drug charges that could land
Red Cross worker and St Petersburg activist Daria Apakhonchich was arrested for taking part in a “vulva ballet” street performance in support of Yulia Tsvetkova. (Darya Apakhonchich/ Facebook) An LGBTQ+ feminist activist in Russia has been acquitted of pornography charges in a rare win for queer rights in the country. Yulia Tsvetkova was arrested in
Salek Magamadov and Ismail Isayev have been detained on terrorism charges in Chechnya, but activists say it’s because they are gay. (Russian LGBT Network) Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, gay brothers detained in Chechnya, have begun a hunger strike after a judge denied a request to move their case to another region. The brothers fled
Russian cadets on stage at the Dobrynin Palace of Culture in Yaroslav (Facebook/Тарас Александрович Сидорин) Russian paratroopers horrified an audience with a homophobic theatre performance depicting a gay man being crushed under a concrete block. The performance was shown as part of an anniversary celebration for a local patriotic military club at the Dobrynin Palace
Ahead of the summer release of Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, Moscow’s Dream Island Theme Park has officially opened its new “Hotel Transylvania” attraction. This comes as Transformania, the final chapter in the $1.3B franchise, is due for rollout beginning July 23 in North America and internationally from August 4. It is currently scheduled to hit Russia on
Members of the Alliance of Heterosexuals and LGBT for Equality, their flag in the top left, at the St Petersburg LGBT+ Pride. (Igor Russak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) An LGBT+ social media page followed by tens of thousands of queer Russians and allies blocked by authorities has vowed to continue fighting for equality. The Alliance
After criminalising all forms of so-called “gay propaganda”, Russia has now turned its attention to positive depictions of bisexuality and polyamory. With Russia’s population expected to decline by 30 million over the next decade, the question of how to raise the birth rate dominated discussions on Thursday (4 March) at a conference of United Russia,
Russian police charged an activist who protested in support of jailed anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny with breaching the country’s ‘gay propaganda’ law Russian police have charged an activist who protested in support of jailed anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny with breaching the country’s ‘gay propaganda’ law on Valentine’s Day. Over the past month, thousands across Russia
Yelena Mizulina, who successfully lobbied for Russia’s 2012 “gay propaganda” law, has emerged as a chilling barometer of the lengths Vladimir Putin will go to squash LGBT+ rights. (Nikolai GalkinTASS via Getty Images) Russia’s cabinet has rejected amendments to the country’s Family Code which would not only have banned marriage equality and same-sex adoption (which
Viktoria Basakovskaya was allegedly strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend in Siberia, Russia. (Screen capture via YouTube) A police officer in Novosibirsk, Russia has confessed to killing his missing ex-girlfriend, a 24-year-old trans woman, after leading the charge to find her. The body of Viktoria Basakovskaya was found in the southern village of Burmistrovo and showed
A proposed new law would legally erase the existence of trans people in Vladimir Putin’s Russia (Getty) Russia could be set to follow in the footsteps of Hungary with a proposed law that would legally erase transgender people. Proposed amendments to Russia’s Family Code, put forward by anti-LGBT+ lawmaker Yelena Mizulinam, would legally bar transgender
Red Cross worker and St Petersburg activist Daria Apakhonchich was arrested for taking part in a “vulva ballet” street performance in support of Yulia Tsvetkova. (Darya Apakhonchich/ Facebook) A Russian activist was arrested and fined after taking part in a “vulva ballet” street performance in support of persecuted queer artist Yulia Tsvetkova. Russian LGBT+ activist
Police clash with protesters in Moscow after the contentious referendum result (Twitter/@mjluxmoore) More than 140 Russians have been arrested for protesting a series of constitutional changes that will allow Vladimir Putin to remain in power for another 16 years. The open democracy monitor OVD-Info reported that at least 142 people were detained in police vans
Members and supporters of the LGBT community take part in a May Day rally in St Petersburg on May 1, 2015. (OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images) A trans woman who was fired in 2017 after she changed her legal gender has won her case against her employer in a Russian court. Known only as Anna, this win
The US embassy in Moscow sends a clear message ahead of an anti-LGBT+ vote in Russia (Instagram/@usembru) The US embassy in Moscow, Russia has raised a Pride flag in clear defiance of an upcoming vote that will effectively stop same-sex marriage ever being legalised. Millions of Russians are expected to head to the polls on
The annual Rainbow Map ranking has named Poland, Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan as some of the worst countries to be LGBT+ in Europe, while the UK continues to slide down the rankings. Since 2009, LGBT+ organisation ILGA-Europe has compiled an annual Rainbow Map ranking of the 49 countries in Europe based on each country’s commitment