It Gets Worse: Russia's Kremlin Targets LGBT Youth Support

A Russian communications oversight agency has charged a social media group that connects LGBT teens to one another with violating the country's draconian ban on so-called gay propaganda.

The state agency, Roskomnadzor, has charged Lena Kilmova with "promoting homosexuality to minors," reports BuzzFeed.

Kilmova is a Russian journalist and the administrator of a page called Children-404, hosted on Facebook and its Russian equivalent Vkontakte, which offers what may be the country's last online refuge where Russian LGBT teens can speak freely about the struggles they face growing up in an increasingly homophobic society. The group's name is a reference to the "page not found" prompt that appears online when a URL is entered incorrectly or has been removed from the Internet.

Earlier this year, Kilmova was issued an "infringement notice," informing her that the page was in violation of the nationwide ban on the promotion of "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" to minors — in this case on social media. The initial complaint was filed by St. Petersburg lawmaker — and key sponsor of the local and nationwide ban on so-called gay propaganda — Vitaly Milonov, who most recently made headlines in the U.S. for demanding a lifetime ban on Apple CEO Tim Cook entering Russia after Cook came out as gay last month.

http://www.advocate.com/world/2014/11/21/it-gets-worse-russias-kremlin-targets-lgbt-youth-support

So much for "It gets Better".