Russia Authorizes State Censors to Block All Gay, Lesbian and Trans Porn

MOSCOW — The Russian government published Monday a decree granting censorship powers to the state media regulator to block any websites containing “LGBT propaganda,” a definition that includes all gay, lesbian and trans adult content.

All depictions of LGBTQ+ sexuality are now officially included under the rubric of “information propagating non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences.” Russia’s internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, has been granted full blocking powers in the country for content deemed as such.

The decree “now serves as grounds for blacklisting any website in Russia, alongside those containing child pornography, information about suicide methods and illegal narcotic production,” the English-language Moscow Times reported yesterday.

The new decree also introduces a false equivalence between CSAM and information about trans people, under a single “propaganda of pedophilia and sex change” category.

The decree was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin following the social agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his hardening of state censorship to Soviet-era levels during his ongoing war in Ukraine.

As XBIZ reported, earlier this month Putin signed explicitly homophobic legislation banning public expression of LGBTQ identity. The new law outlawed the distribution of what it termed “propaganda” in all media, advertising, movies or on social media. The legislation passed Russia’s Parliament, the Duma, by a vote of 397 to 0 on Nov. 24.

Although all pornography is already technically illegal in Russia, adult content is overtly produced in the country, including the depiction of LGBTQ sexual acts. The new law added another layer of prohibition for the latter, likely to be selectively enforced by authorities. Russian authorities have routinely used anti-sex laws to target specific political dissidents for non-sex-related reasons.

Russia had already banned “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” for minors in 2013, but the new law extended that ban to all adults.

Versions of Putin’s anti-LGBTQ laws are currently being promoted by members of the Republican Party in several U.S. states, including Texas.

Main Image: Russian President (then Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin riding a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia, in 2009 (Photo: Russian Federation)