Transgender blogger convicted for spreading ‘LGBT propaganda’ in Russia
It's an indication of how harsh the country's anti-LGBTQ laws are.
A transgender blogger in Russia, Milana Petrova, has reportedly been fined for supposedly spreading “LGBT propaganda.”
Petrova was said to have been fined 250,000 rubles (€2500) over the above. As well as this she was fined for “discrediting” the Russian army on the Telegram social media platform.
She was reported to Russia’s Centre for Combating Extremism by Ekaterina Mizulina from Russia’s Safe Internet League, as per the Russian independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta.
The outlet also reports Petrova was absent from the court hearings.
Mizulina posted on Telegram on Monday (14 August) that Petrova was fined: “200,000 rubles for LGBT propaganda and 50,000 for discrediting the army.”
Deliberately misgendering Petrova, Mizulina also wrote: “Over the weekend, the transgender tried to ‘divorce’ [her] audience by spreading a fake about [her] detention.
“This was done to advertise one of the channels. Let me remind you that, in accordance with the decision of Rosmolodezh, Telegram, and YouTube should block the blogger’s resources in Russia.”
There are also reports, including from LGBTQ-friendly blogs, that Petrova was detained and beaten by authorities but these are unconfirmed.
Russia brought in its ‘LGBT propaganda’ law in 2013. An escalation this year means any LGBTQ event or content aimed at minors is banned and could incur a fine.
Last November it was extended to include adults as well.
Fines could be as much as 400,000 roubles (£5,464) for individuals. Legal entities could face fines of up to 5 million roubles (£68,310).
Russia’s law has been as the basis for a very similar law in Hungary.
In July, Putin signed a new bill into law banning gender-affirming surgery and hormone replacement therapy for trans people.