Gay hunters: How crimal gangs lure men on datg apps before extortg sh and beatg them | The Inpennt | The Inpennt

Contents:

• RSIAN GAY DATG APP V: WE'VE BEEN BLOCKED JT DAYS BEFORE WTER OLYMPICS
• 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
• A GAY DATG APP IS HELPG TO HOE QUEER PEOPLE FLEEG UKRAE
• GAY HUNTERS: HOW CRIMAL GANGS LURE MEN ON DATG APPS BEFORE EXTORTG SH AND BEATG THEM
• ‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA
• THE TOP LGBTQ+ DATG S AND APPS: 14 BT GAY DATG S

RSIAN GAY DATG APP V: WE'VE BEEN BLOCKED JT DAYS BEFORE WTER OLYMPICS

Is safe to e gay datg apps Rsia? In December 2022, Rsia expand s existg “gay propaganda” law to exert ntrol over public discsns and narrativ surroundg non-heterosexual relatnships and inti.

It is important to note that the same-sex soc-sexual behavr observed the study is distct om homosexual behavr bee s motivatn and purpose are social, said Jean-Baptiste Le, who studi primate behavr at the Universy of Lethbridge Canada and was not volved the new rearch. To be classified as te homosexual behavr, the form, motivatn and functn would all have to be sexual nature, he said.

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

A mobile datg app which is popular among Rsia's gay muny has reportedly been hacked and blocked the untry jt days before the Black Sea astal town of Sochi plays host to the Wter Olympics. Rsian ers of Hunters, a hook-up app that's siar to Grdr, were also sent threats that a ntroversial new Rsian law banng so-lled "gay propaganda" signed by Rsian Print Vladimir Put last July would be ed to arrt them, acrdg to the chief exec of the veloper, Dmry T. The exec said the followg threateng msage ( English) was broadst on Saturday to all Hunters' ers Rsia: "You will be arrted and jailed for gay propaganda Sochi acrdg to Rsian Feral Law #135 Sektn 6".

Dmry T ma the claim to gay news and popculture blog that state-sponsored hackg may have been rponsible for the block.

A GAY DATG APP IS HELPG TO HOE QUEER PEOPLE FLEEG UKRAE

"It looks like the Rsian Government cid to take full ntrol of the ter and implement Turkish practic where Grdr has been banned for almost half a year, " Dmry T told "I thk that this attack is nnected to creasg censorship of the ter and very soon other gay datg rourc Rsia will face siar problems. 2 ln people worldwi, allows gay men not only to seek sual hook-ups, but to also fd ser dat, hom, iends and jobs. Crics and human rights activists say the law mak impossible to stage gay pri events or speak fence of gay rights Rsia.

The law, which has been cricised by the ternatnal muny and foreign media, has rulted a number of arrts and cints of vlence agast homosexual people. Gay rights groups have urged a boytt of the Sochi Wter Olympics as a prott. In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out.

In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. Gay Water, however, is out and proud.

GAY HUNTERS: HOW CRIMAL GANGS LURE MEN ON DATG APPS BEFORE EXTORTG SH AND BEATG THEM

The nned cktail is named after a lloquialism given to the popular mixed drk (vodka and soda) orred at bars by the gay muny.

“Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh. He thought of creatg Gay Water about a year ago while on a vatn wh his iend that had got a job wh the beverage dtry. The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail.

Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water.

‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA

“Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”. For now, Gay Water is sold largely onle (wh a few retailers) and four sugar-ee flavors — watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu — at lnch. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

“There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said. Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space. The European Court of Human Rights led 2017 that the 2013 law is discrimatory, promot homophobia and vlat the European Conventn on Human Rights.

The urt found that the law “served no legimate public tert, ” rejectg suggtns that public bate on LGBT issu uld fluence children to bee homosexual, or that threatened public morals. Homosexualy was crimalized Rsia 1993, but homophobia and discrimatn is still rife.

THE TOP LGBTQ+ DATG S AND APPS: 14 BT GAY DATG S

Speakg before Put signed the bill to the law on Monday, Tanya Loksha, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch said: “The 2013 ‘gay propaganda’ law was an unabashed example of polil homophobia, and the new draft legislatn amplifi that broar and harsher ways. Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.

'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage".