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With a career built on attacking LGBTQI+ folks, Member of the State Duma and far-right Russian politician Vitaly Valentinovich Milonov is striking the next blow: hosting a YouTube reality show called “Я не гей”, which translates to “I’m Not Gay”.
The show will ‘test the heterosexuality’ of 8 men to see if they can ‘resist’ being attracted to men, or alternatively to prove how intensely attracted they are to women, with elimination rounds designed to find one remaining gay person.
Russia is infamous for its human rights abuses against LGBTQI+ folks. In 2013 President Vladimir Putin signed a law spearheaded by Milonov, for banning the spread of LGBTQ+ “propaganda” to minors, after which crimes against queer and trans folks – especially against youth – have doubled.
Milonov’s anti-LGBTQI+ propaganda has been awarded by Russian president Vladimir Putin one of the country’s highest civilian honours – a medal of the order “For Service to the Fatherland” in the second degree.
“In 2012, he attempted to bring Madonna and Lady Gaga to court after they spoke in support of LGBT rights at their concerts in Russia…He also filed a complaint against Lena Klimova, the founder of the Deti-404 online support group for LGBT teenagers, who was eventually fined under Russia’s gay propaganda law in a separate case,” Guardian reports.
Russia’s ongoing crackdowns on LGBTQ+ rights amplified when Putin signed into law a series of constitutional amendments, which include banning transgender people from adopting children, and outlawing marriage equality.
One anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda video from 2020 titled “Why amendments to the Constitution are important,” specifically targetted gender non-conforming and trans femme folks through its misrepresentation of a queer couple adopting a child.