What???? : Man Fined By Court For Not Being Homophobic

A Russian man has been hit with a steep fine,
because he said something about gays that was
“non-negative”.
Sergei Alekseenko is the latest person to be
charged under the country’s ‘gay propaganda’
law, which bans the “promotion of non-traditional
relationships” to minors.

The activist served as the director of Maximum,
a Murmansk LGBT rights group that provided
support and legal help for people struggling with
their sexuality or gender identity, before it was
forcibly de-registered by the government in
October 2015. According to Human Rights Watch,
the Leninsky District Court in Murmansk found
that the group’s website violates the country’s
law, which was signed into law by Putin in 2013.

Alekseenko was convicted of “the dissemination
of positive information about LGBT relationships
to children” and fined 100,000 rubles (£900) for
the so-called violation.
Tanya Cooper of Human Rights Watch said:
“Russian authorities use the ‘gay propaganda’
law to harass and intimidate LGBT activists into
silence.

Sergei Alekseenko will be appealing the
district court’s verdict and the prosecutors
should not oppose Alekseenko’s appeal.
“Russian authorities should immediately stop
penalizing LGBT people for discussing their
identities. Russia’s federal law banning ‘gay
propaganda’ should be immediately repealed.”