'We're not hidg': Gay and lbian Rsians say a cultural shift is unrway

Contents:

• GAY MAN RSIA FORCED TO HIDG OVER YOUTUBE TERVIEW
• 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
• 1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS

GAY MAN RSIA FORCED TO HIDG OVER YOUTUBE TERVIEW

The untry as a whole has a reputatn of profound homophobia. Chechen lear: 'We don't have any gays'. A gay Rsian man is hidg after Rsian thori opened a crimal se over a YouTube vio which he was terviewed by children, a se that has drawn attentn om human-rights activists.

Maxim Pankratov told CNN he was facg threats and a potentially lengthy prison sentence for appearg the vio discsg his life as an openly gay man Rsia.

'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY

The vio, origally posted on the Rsian-language “Real Talk” YouTube channel, featured four children terviewg Pankratov, 22, about his life and his inty as a gay man. The format of the vio is simple: Pankratov and his terviewers face each other chairs agast a blue background, and the children ask simple qutns: “How did you know you were gay? “It was about what ’s like to be a gay man Rsia and how I live.

Rsia has a rerd of official hostily toward gay rights.

1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS

” The law – which prohibs public discsn of gay rights and relatnships anywhere children may be prent – has drawn wispread ternatnal nmnatn. In 2017, a European urt led that the law was discrimatory, promoted homophobia and vlated the European Conventn on Human Rights. Rsian thori have barred and broken up gay-pri march.

In the Rsian republic of Chechnya, for stance, wns and victims me forward to make public allegatns of mass arrts and torture of gay men.