| Gays for Putin! | |
| Native Name: | Геи за Путина! |
| Native Name Lang: | Russian |
| Colorcode: |
|
| Chair: | --> |
| Chairman: | --> |
| Vice Chair: | --> |
| Vice Chairman: | --> |
| Legalized: | --> |
| Ideology: | LGBT advocacy Putinism |
| Leader: | Alexei Nazarov |
| Colours: | --> |
| Slogan: |
|
| Country: | Russia |
Gays for Putin! (Russian: Геи за Путина!) is a Russian LGBT group that supports Vladimir Putin, endorsing his 2018 presidential campaign. The tongue-in-cheek initiative began following a homophobic presidential campaign ad in early 2018.[1] [2]
Gays for Putin! held its first demonstration to support Putin's presidential campaign on 3 March 2018 after filing a notice in Smolny. The demonstration was held in St. Petersburg, the hometown of Putin and Vitaly Milonov, a self-described "demon hunter" who can "smell gays" and authored the local law that was the model for the national gay propaganda law.[3] After submitting an application to the Smolny profile committee, a couple of gays attended a service in the nearby Smolny Convent of St. Petersburg, praying for the success of a good undertaking. Also that month, the Moscow gay group members also held a demonstration in Moscow.[4]
Maxim Neverov, a sixteen-year-old co-founder of Gays for Putin, submitted 12 applications for pro-Putin and LGBTQ public events to city officials in Biysk. He applied for permission for a performance of a Gays for Putin play, and rallies to recognize Putin as a saint and defending gay people named Vitaly. Authorities rejected his applications and published his address and phone number on the internet.[5] In an interview with Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, Neverov said he was picked up from his school by authorities and forbidden from organizing the events. In July he received a letter from the police accusing him of spreading gay propaganda and ordering him to appear before a committee. Neverov was the first minor to be charged and convicted under Russia's gay propaganda law.[6] He was ordered to pay a 50,000 ruble fine for three photographs that appeared in a private album on VK.[7] The conviction was overturned on appeal.[8]