Russia‘s most popular LGBTQ website, BlueSystem.ru, has been blocked throughout the country without warning according to its administrators, reports The Moscow Times.
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A court ruling banned the site, visited by approximately 100,000 people a day, although the reason for that ban has not been published on the court’s website and the owners of the site say they were given no explanation. They also say they were not able to defend themselves in court.
“The Kremlin is afraid of gays,” the website’s team wrote on social media. “On the eve of the State Duma elections, the Kremlin mobilized its repressive machine and blocked the most popular Runet gay site.”
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Russia has become increasingly aggressive against their LGBTQ population. In 2013, they passed a “gay propaganda law,” which has made simply talking about homosexuality a punishable offense.
The bill states that “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” are a class of materials that must not be distributed among minors. The term is defined as materials that are “[aimed] at causing minors to form non-traditional sexual predispositions, notions of attractiveness of non-traditional sexual relationships, distorted ideas about the equal social value of traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships, or imposing information about non-traditional sexual relationships which raises interest in such relationships insofar as these acts do not amount to a criminal offence.”
Related: What It’s Like To Be Young And Gay In Russia
This has been enforced in such a way that gay activists often get assaulted and arrested for demonstrating for their rights.
“LGBT resources get blocked as part of a broader crackdown on freedom of expression online,” Tanya Lokshina, Russia program director for Human Rights Watch, told The Daily Beast. “The authorities are also attempting to shut down Children-404 (Deti-404), an online support group for LGBT teens.”
Alistair Wiseman
So Russia blocks LGBTQ website.
Ironically, LGBTQ Nation (Queerty sister site) bans me from their comments board.
Two sides of the same fascist, totalit@rian coin.
zipperzone
Golly gee…… that’s a surprise. Who ever would have thunk it?
silveroracle
Typical of Russia.
Such a backward country.
Hussain-TheCanadian
Is this what Trump admires about Putin? Authoritarians of the right are always the same, men with small hands.
chris_clb614
@Alistair Wiseman: Last time I checked Russia is a nation (reliving its Soviet-era glory days). A website blocking one person from having any access is blocking just that one person.
Brian
It’s interesting that some of America’s gay websites censor comments at times. Talk about double standards.
Queerty is probably the most free of all gay websites. Queerty is probably the closest to free speech out of all gay websites.
Bob LaBlah
I’m willing to bet they didn’t ban the gay porn sites. Even China allows gay porn sites.
DMRX
@Alistair Wiseman: @Alistair Wiseman: Queerty’s comment board is a PRIVATE forum. Russia is a (supposedly) PUBLIC representative constitutional republic nation. HUGE DIFFERENCE!
Alistair Wiseman
@chris_clb614:
@DMRX:
Does it feel good when you defend censorship? The silencing of free and open dialogue comes some freely to those of you on the Left. Whether it’s in Russia or the United States, not a big deal. We don’t like what you have to say so we will do what we can to squash it and then congratulate ourselves on our love of diversity.
Like I said, it is two sides of the same f@scist, totalit@rian coin.
stadacona
Most message boards here in Canada block center-right and alt-right comments. Also, most news sites in Canada have removed their comments sections completely because the voice of the people doesn’t fit our liberal fascist government narrative.
Bob LaBlah
@stadacona: “most news sites in Canada have removed their comments sections completely because the voice of the people doesn’t fit our liberal fascist government narrative.”
The same has happened in NYC. The NYPost, the NYDailynews and the NYTImes have all removed their comment sections. The NYPost and the NYDailynews once upon a time were the most liberal newspaper in the area. When Rupert Murdoch took over the NYPost all things changed and went right-wing, followed by the NYDailynews,
Bauhaus
@Brian:
No shit. Trolls run rampant on here.