Russia tightens LGBTQ+ law in clampdown on beleaguered community

Published

3 years ago

November 23, 2022

admin

As if there weren’t other things for Russian MPs to worry about nine months into the Kremlin’s war with Ukraine.

But as their president seeks to exalt traditional Russian values above what he has called the “outright Satanism” of the West, his parliament has adopted in the second reading a bill that further tightens the screws on Russia’s beleaguered LGBTQ+ community.

Legislation introduced in 2013 which banned the promotion of so-called gay propaganda to minors has been expanded to incorporate all age groups.

That means that films, literature, journalism, advertising – anything which actively promotes the notion of non-traditional sexual relations or which advocates a change of gender will be punishable with hefty fines.

Those can reach up to 400,000 rubles for individuals (£5,500) or five million rubles for legal entities (£70,000).

Foreign citizens found to have violated the law will face expulsion from the Russian Federation.

How lawmakers plan to implement the new law remains to be seen, whether with a flood of cases or simply by scaring people into self-censorship.

“There are so many pieces of law now and this obviously won’t be the last,” says Vladimir Komov from Delo LGBT which provides legal assistance to the LGBT community.

“We partly hope that by resisting and not hiding we will be able to stop the system. It simply won’t be able to cope with the number of cases.”

Delo LGBT is one of the few remaining LGBT support groups in Russia. Others have been labelled foreign agents and have left the country.

It is not clear how many tens of thousands from the LGBT community have fled since 24 February, especially given the fear of mobilisation into the notoriously homophobic Russian armed forces but Mr Komov says he needs to defend the rights of those who stay.

He is worried that the new legislation will worsen trends of violence, forced outing, catfishing and extortion of Russia’s LGBT community and provide a permissive environment for ever-worsening hate speech.

“Homophobes now openly compare LGBT people with fascists and Nazis,” Mr Komov says.

“Since February, LGBT changed from ordinary opponents who were created as targets of the state ideology, a homophobic ideology by the way, and we became almost the main enemy.”

Despite the growing restrictions, the gay scene in cities like Moscow, St Petersburg or Sochi over the past decade was pretty vibrant. Gay clubs were packed. There would be no markings or advertising, but they weren’t hard to find.

Domestic homophobia, if anything, was on the wane, especially amongst a younger demographic.

“I was born in the year 2000 and most of my peers are LGBT friendly or they have a neutral attitude,” says Robert, who lives as an openly gay man in Moscow.

“Most of them just don’t get the reason why we need this ban and it sounds incredible to them that you can lure someone into being gay by propaganda.”

Russia’s parliamentarians are largely 40 plus at least, and they are legislating on behalf of younger generations, many of whom have grown up seeing things differently. One good illustration is the book that topped the bestseller lists this summer.

Summer in a Pioneer Tie tells the story of a romance between a teenage boy and his 19-year-old male group leader at a Soviet pioneer camp.

Labelled 18+ in accordance with existing laws, it has nevertheless picked up a massive teenage following, the associated hashtag #lpvg racking up 317 million views at present count on TikTok.

“We must do everything to protect our children and those who want to live a normal life,” said the speaker of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, as lawmakers voted on the bill.

“Everything else is sin, sodomy, darkness and our country is fighting this.”

But by banning any so-called LGBT propaganda, Russia’s lawmakers run the risk of making it a lot more alluring to a younger generation who may find the endless rhetoric around traditional values wearing.

World

What could Elon Musk do with $1trn?

Published

4 hours ago

November 7, 2025

admin

Elon Musk could be on track for a $1trn pay packet.

Tesla shareholders have approved the whopping financial package for the CEO – who’s already worth an estimated $491bn – if he hits a series of ambitious targets over the next 10 years.

But that $1trn figure (or £761,910,000,000) – which is both one thousand billion and one million million – is almost impossible to imagine for most people.

Even so, we have drilled down into the numbers and examined what you can do with a trillion US dollars – and it turns out, quite a lot.

Show me the money

Laid end to end, a trillion one-dollar bills would cover a distance of approximately 156 billion metres.

That could wrap around the equator 3,890 times, easily reach the sun from Earth (around 149.6 million km) or loop from Earth to the moon 405 times.

That many one-dollar notes could cover a massive area (roughly 10,339 km squared), meaning you could blanket nearly all of Lebanon or Jamaica in bills.

Spend it on sport

You could splash out on virtually all of the world’s major sporting leagues.

The clubs which make up the Premier League are relatively cheap ($30bn), and even when snapping up the UEFA Champions League clubs and the big five top divisions of Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, there’s still $858bn left in the kitty.

The four major US sports leagues for ice hockey, baseball, basketball, and American football (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) have a rough valuation of $544bn, according to Sportico.

But then add the IPL cricket league ($120bn) and F1 ($23.1bn) and Musk still has change from an estimated total spend of $829.7bn.

Take over Tesla’s rivals

He could buy up the top 15 largest publicly traded automakers (excluding Tesla) by market capitalisation.

They would include firms like Japan’s Toyota ($275bn), Chinese automaker BYD ($120bn), and luxury brands like Ferrari ($81bn) and Mercedes-Benz ($62bn), as well as BMW ($52bn), Volkswagen ($50bn) and Ford ($48bn).

But there would still be a little change left over; the total bill would be an eye-watering $992bn.

Buy up San Diego

He could buy up every single residential property in San Diego County – valued at a total of $1trn. Seattle is just slightly out of reach at $1.1trn, according to recent data from real estate firm Zillow.

But if he wanted to buy big – there is always Tennessee. The total value of homes in the US state is estimated at $957bn. Or there is Maryland, which at $1.01trn could be bought if he can find a little more cash behind the sofa.

Sadly, he would struggle to scoop up London’s entire housing stock, which in February was valued at just under £2trn ($2.53trn), according to agents Savills.

Cities like New York ($4.6trn) and Los Angeles ($3.9trn) are also not within his budget, hosting America’s most expensive residential markets.

Do something charitable?

There is always the possibility Musk could follow in the footsteps of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who intends to give away 99% of his vast fortune over the next 20 years.

He could give every single man, woman, and child in the US a share of his cash pile. They would receive approximately $2,917.32 (£2,223.29), based on a population estimate of 342.7 million.

Although it would be roughly $14,348.79 (£10,935.20) for every person (roughly 69.6 million) in the UK.

If he wanted to give the entire globe an early Christmas present, then based on the rough world population estimate of 8.2 billion, everyone would receive $121.80 (£92.87).

Pay off the credit card

With $1trn, he could instantly rewrite history and erase debt interest payments and the government debt from dozens of the world’s sovereign nations.

Or Musk could wipe out the debts of Singapore ($1trn) or South Korea ($0.99trn) in one go, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook (Oct 2025).

But when it comes to the biggest debt-laden countries, $1trn would not even touch the sides.

The US has $38.3trn of government debt (just over one third of the total global debt pile) while the UK has a modest $4.1trn.

World

Prince Harry apologises to Canada for wearing LA Dodgers cap at World Series

Published

4 hours ago

November 7, 2025

admin

Prince Harry apologises to Canada for wearing LA Dodgers cap at World Series

Prince Harry has apologised to Canada for wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers cap while attending a World Series game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Duke of Sussex and his wife, Meghan, were pictured at the baseball game last Tuesday, which Toronto ultimately lost to the Dodgers in a seventh-game decider on Sunday.

The prince joked to Canadian broadcaster CTV that he wore the Dodgers merchandise “under duress”.

He said it felt like “the polite thing to do” after being invited to the dugout by the team’s owner.

“Firstly, I would like to apologise to Canada for wearing it,” he said.

“Secondly, I was under duress. There wasn’t much choice.”

“When you’re missing a lot of hair on top, and you’re sitting under floodlights, you’ll take any hat that’s available,” he joked.

“Game five, game six, game seven, I was Blue Jays throughout. Now that I’ve admitted that, it’s going to be pretty hard for me to return back to Los Angeles.”

Harry, who is in Canada for Remembrance Week events, conducted the interview wearing a Toronto Blue Jays cap.

He added he was “devastated” at the Blue Jays’ defeat.

The royal couple, who met in 2016 and married in 2018, moved to California in 2020 – after initially setting up home in Canada. They live in Montecito with their children Archie, six, and Lilibet, four.

Harry’s father, the King, is the head of state of Canada – a Commonwealth nation.

Meghan has previously shown her support for the Blue Jays, a nod to her former home city.

The former actress lived in Toronto while filming the legal drama Suits. She appeared in more than 100 episodes.

She and Harry also spent time together there during the early stages of their relationship.

World

Scientist who co-discovered double-helix of DNA dies

Published

4 hours ago

November 7, 2025

admin

Scientist who co-discovered double-helix of DNA dies

James Watson, co-discoverer of the double-helix shape of DNA, has died at the age of 97.

James D. Watson shared a 1962 Nobel Prize with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins for discovering that deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA.

Their co-discovery of the twisted-ladder structure of DNA in 1953 helped revolutionise medicine, crime-fighting, genealogy and ethics.

The discovery turned him into a legendary figure, but later in life he faced condemnation for offensive remarks, including saying black people are less intelligent than white people.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the latest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.