On 14 August, the founder of “Centre T,” Yan Dvorkin, was fined 200,000 roubles (approx. US$2,200) under the article on “LGBTQ ‘propaganda’” among minors via the internet (Part 4, Article 6.21 of the Administrative Code). The decision was published on the information portal of Moscow magistrate courts and was noted by “Ostorozhno, novosti” (“Attention, news”).
The grounds for the administrative case were a post on a Telegram channel dated 29 March, in which Dvorkin wrote about the importance of visibility for LGBTQ people’s experiences: “…I believe that we must use every opportunity that would help support LGBTQ people and the community that we may be. Any opportunity that gives more visibility to our experience. In spaces where it is safe to do so. At the very least, such visibility preserves the memory of what we are going through. About the ongoing repression, resistance practices, people’s experiences. All of this can become part of culture. Or it can disappear, as if it doesn’t matter. I think Putin’s gang would actually want this effect from their actions: for us to disappear, to be so afraid of visibility it terrifies us, for our main occupation to be hiding ourselves, our lives, our feelings and desires. And if there’s anywhere we can avoid hiding and speak out loud, I think we are obliged to do so.”
The court noted that the text was published without an “18+” age warning.
On 26 August, the activist was given another fine under a similar article; this decision has yet to be published.
Asya Sokolova for OVD-Info
The adoption of the “LGBT propaganda” law marked not only widespread censorship but also intensified repression against LGBTQ people and the organisations that support them. With the designation of the “International LGBT Movement” as an “extremist organisation,” this pressure has increased once again.
Search
