The Belarusian magicians break new ground — gay love spells. Russian activists commemorated the International Day of coming out. Ukrainian authorities are getting more open towards LGBT rights issues. Highlights of LGBT news from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia in one article. Digest Gaypress.eu from October 10 — October 16, 2016.
Belarusian writer, the winner of 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature, 68-year-old Svetlana Aleksievich, known for her friendly attitude towards the gay community, has once again stated about the persecution of homosexuals in Russia.
«… This is madness. Homosexuals are persecuted, Orthodox Church became even more aggressive and is not limited to the prohibition of theater works, books … Even the Soviet propaganda was not as blatant as the present one», — she said in an interview to Spanish «El Pais».
More and more LGBT people commit coming out all over the world, including to support the LGBT community as a whole. Belarus stands separately of this trend. Gaypress conducted an anonymous survey among Belarusian gay celebrities, whose homosexuality is known only in narrow circles. Among the main reasons to keep their orientation in secret respondents called fear of the consequences for the family, fear of losing their jobs, the lack of tolerance and the high degree of resentment in Belarusian society.
It is not unusual to find offers of gay love spells on ground of white magic and nigromancy in Belarusian Interweb. The magicians and sorcerers themselves say that same-sex relationships have existed since ancient times, therefore such kind services are rooted to those days as well. What did cause the occurrence of these special offers in Belarus, considering dominant homophobia in the society? Gaypress has investigated the principles of gay love spell, warranty and cost issue.
LGBT activist from Samara Maria Rymar was fined for one thousand dollars by Minsk court for knowingly false message about the danger. The woman was arrested in July 2016 at the airport «Minsk-2» when she arrived from Kiev. During the personal passenger inspection the woman heated with dispute announced: «Do not touch me! I have a triton in my bag». That was the trigger for the initiation of criminal case.
In contrast, 68-year-old Metropolitan of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Tikhon considers that it is a moral duty of the church to give an opinion about all «political decisions». As an example, he cited the same-sex marriage and homosexuality, calling to fight them.«It is impossible to equate same-sex marriage and a normal family. Ethically it is wrong. It is a sin and abomination, and it is in contra to the law of God … «— said the priest, thereby supporting the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, who constantly criticizes the marriage equality.
Russian authorities have banned the site «Children 404» for pro-homosexuality. The project was found by Elena Klimova to support homosexual children and teenagers. Earlier, for the same reason Roskomnadzor has blocked access to the «Children 404» page in the social network «VKontakte» and has fined Elena Klimova for 50 000 rubles. In order to lift the prohibition the site administrators have to remove all the content that does not meet the requirements of Russian legislation, i.e. everything that was published on the website.
«The only way to avoid the ban is to renew site’s repertoire, for example, to start posting kittens», — said the representative of Roskomnadzor Vadim Ampelonsky.
«Children 404» has already responded to the authorities’ advice and posted the first kitten.
Russian LGBT activists commemorated the International Day of coming out On October,11. Thus, in St. Petersburg, the activists performed a symbolic funeral procession with «rainbow» coffin, flowers, funeral speech and drumming. In Moscow, they prepared a video appeal calling LGBT people «to open their love to the world», and also released a set of postcards for those who find it difficult to talk out loud. In Novosibirsk the activists launched a photographic project #wearetraditional in social networks to demonstrate that family values and traditions of same-sex and heterosexual families are the same.
Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine participates in the research «Ukrainian index of corporate equity», thereby supporting the implementation of the policy of equality and non-discrimination in the workplace, including on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Two-days training on community-building for activists from the six post-Soviet countries was held in Ukraine in the framework of the «Eastern Partnership Coalition for LGBTI equality». The participants from Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Moldova and Ukraine shared their national experiences on the protection of LGBT rights, developed a strategy how to mobilize the community and attract new activists and volunteers, and elaborated the development tools.
