This Image of Vladimir Putin Is Now Banned in Russia. Well, Possibly, No One’s Quite Sure Which One.
Which One Is Banned? Russia Won’t Say.
An image depicting Vladimir Putin “with eyes and lips made up,†suggesting “the president of the Russian Federation” has a “supposed non-standard sexual orientation” is banned now in Russia. It’s actually unclear which image as the list of banned “extremist” materials does not actually include a depiction of the image that is banned, but it probably looks something like the photo above.
Or, this one:
A Russian court has banned an image suggesting Putin is gay & sentenced the culprit to compulsory psychiatric care. https://t.co/rUlOO5r6lp pic.twitter.com/hbkDHcndY5
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) April 5, 2017
Or, this one:
RT RFERL: Russia bans image ‘hinting’ that Putin is gay https://t.co/rm168Rfj41 pic.twitter.com/R84taZzOEv
— Политота (@ruzke_politota) April 5, 2017
Or, this one:
Gay Putin Picture Banned By Russian Court, Listed As ‘Extremist Material’ – https://t.co/znvzynNG1c pic.twitter.com/ZbC0ibPfvx
— Vessel News (@VesselNews) April 5, 2017
Or, this one:
Russia bans ‘gay Putin’ image as extremist propaganda, rules that creator is mentally ill https://t.co/pkViBHyEJ8 pic.twitter.com/gq45wzH5my
— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) April 5, 2017
Or, something.
Putin has a long history of creating a hostile environment for LGBT people. Under his watch, people perceived to be members of the LGBT community are openly attacked, and unable to protest or reasonably advocate for their rights.
A ruling banning the image, Radio Free Europe reports, “stemmed from a criminal case against a man named Aleksandr Tsvetkov, who was accused of stoking hate speech by posting the photograph of Putin in makeup on the popular Russian social-networking site Vkontakte.”
“Russian news outlets are having trouble reporting exactly which image of the Internet’s many Putin-gay-clown memes is now illegal to share,” The Washington Post reports. “Because, you know, it’s been banned.”
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Image by Darren Johnson / iDJ Photography via Flickr and a CC licenseÂ
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