Two detainees fined 50,000 roubles (£350) for ‘trying to arouse interest in non-traditional sexual relations’

Crossposted from https://lemmy.world/post/23801022

Russia fined at least seven people for “looking too gay” after a police raid on a nightclub in Tula in February which videos show was carried out by men in military-style uniforms and helmets.

It comes as the Kremlin ramps up a push to promote “traditional values” that has included tightening anti-LGBT legislation and banning “propaganda promoting a child-free lifestyle”.

One man had “crosses of black tape glued to his nipples” and a “women’s style corset” on his “naked” body.

Another had “pink socks … an unbuttoned kimono over his shoulders, his hair dyed bright orange, and red tattoos on his face”.

“Although a man, he was wearing a short top covering his chest, black leather shorts above the knee, on which there were several chain-shaped ornaments, and fishnet tights,” read another description.

“The appearance of the detainees is inconsistent with the image of a man of traditional sexual orientation,” judges were reported to have said.

    • DdCno1@beehaw.org
      3·
      3 days ago

      Seems like it closed due to gentrification. How on Earth is this comparable to the government fining people for being gay?

        • DdCno1@beehaw.org
          3·
          3 days ago

          Have you considered that I’m not informed about local matters in this particular part of a city thousands of miles away from where I’m living and that this is all I can find about this with a cursory search? You’re free to provide a decent source on the matter instead of being passive-aggressive about this and trying to lead me onto a bad paper chase with cryptic writing. I had no idea what “chain drive” even meant before I started looking.

          Even if you were 100% correct about this club closing due to a government-sponsored campaign against it (which seems unlikely, given that Democrat mayor was in office when this club was closed, one who spoke out in favor of gay marriage when he was mayor of Austin), this doesn’t make it anywhere near comparable to the government repression and violence that LGBTQ+ people are experiencing in Russia.

            • DdCno1@beehaw.org
              3·
              3 days ago

              You treat me as if I was an enemy, even though I’m not. You make assumption about me that don’t even make sense if you look at what I’m writing in the same thread or in direct replies to you. I get that you are frustrated, afraid and so many other things due to the experiences you’ve had and I’m sorry that you had to go through this, but you are not going to make any friends or garner much additional sympathy by being this abrasive.

              I would be interested to learn more about this, bot the general entrapment scheme and how it was employed to close this particular club. Is the latter just local lore so to speak (that you couldn’t possibly expect someone who isn’t a local to know about) or has anyone written about it elsewhere?

              I will also repeat my claim that this isn’t the same as what Russia is doing, not even close. You will have to admit that concentration camps and murder squads are considerably more extreme of a human rights violation than shutting down gay clubs through subterfuge. I get that this particular incident in Russia is perhaps closer to what you’re describing and that you care more about what’s happening in your home town than thousands of miles away, but wouldn’t it make more sense to keep the two topics separated until there’s an obvious overlap, e.g. with a Republican law maker directly or indirectly importing Russian repressive measures?

                • DdCno1@beehaw.org
                  3·
                  3 days ago

                  you’ll need to find a gay sex positive austinite over the age of 45 who used to patron the chain drive to find those details; i learned of it myself from patrons of the iron bear and highland

                  Then how are you expecting a random person on the Internet to know about it? This isn’t /c/LGBTQ_plus_Austin_Texas_over_45_only. You presented it as if this obscure club from ages ago was something people should know about, just because they care about this cause. You thought it was relevant enough to bring up in a discussion about current-day human rights abuses in Russia.

                  it’s safe to assume anyone who accepts this kind of pink washing propaganda is not an ally.

                  I’m not “accepting” anything. I specifically wrote that it seemed that way after a cursory search and provided you with an opportunity to tell me more about this, ideally with more than hearsay. I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but 1) it seems a bit far-fetched in a Democrat stronghold, under a mayor who is sympathetic to the cause (was already sympathetic to the cause before the club closed and who was also able to direct what police is doing in his city) and 2) I am perplexed that you still haven’t provided anything that supports your claim. Once again, you are not a good spokesperson for your cause by being obtuse and abrasive. If I were on the fence about this topic, this kind of unpleasant interaction might push me in the other direction. I’m not, never have been, because I’ve always been opposed to any kind of discrimination since kindergarten (one of few things I’m proud of in my life). You could treat me much worse and I’d still only be annoyed by you, but there are certainly people other than me who aren’t this tolerant.

                  This is only a small corner of a small corner of the Internet - and one that where one can expect virtually everyone to either be LGBTQ+ or sympathetic - so the amount of damage you’d be able to cause with this kind of behavior is limited, but one has to wonder if you’re like this elsewhere and doing yourself and others a disservice on larger and more visible stages as well. Again, being aggressive is an entirely normal reaction to having experienced aggression yourself and I am truly sorry that you have had terrible experiences, but please direct this aggression only towards those who actually want to cause harm to you and others, not people who are genuinely trying to understand and learn.