Russia has passed an expanded version of its law banning “LGBT propaganda” (opens in a new tab) in national media, including video games. Signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last Monday, the expansion modifies a 2013 law that prohibited “the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” toward minors to also include adults, effectively banning the positive representation of LGBT people. in Russian movies, TV and books. , music, theater and games.
People who break the law face fines of up to 400,000 rubles (about £5,200/US$6,400), while organizations can pay up to 5 million rubles (£64,825/US$79,000). Fortunately, a proposal to make repeated violations of the law a criminal matter and therefore subject to prison has been rejected for now.
In mid-November, Russian politician Yana Lantratova of the A Just Russia—For Truth party made the media rounds with a list of specific games (opens in a new tab) containing LGBT content to generate publicity and support for the expanded bill. On his list were games like Assassin’s Creed, Life Is Strange, The Last of Us, Dragon Age, Rimworld, and more.
An amendment to the bill proposed by Lantratova (opens in a new tab), which would have banned games promoting “homosexuality, pornography, cruelty and violence” was rejected by the Duma (Russian parliament), if only because Duma deputies felt the issue should be addressed in their own draft law in lieu of amendments to an existing one. . Video games still face punishment if they are found to promote “non-traditional sexual relationships,” of course, but it seems they can still get away with cruelty and violence for now.
It is difficult to say exactly what would and would not be acceptable under the expanded law. Its vague wording and relative novelty means that you can’t really pin down what “propaganda” means through text or legal precedent. An appointment (opens in a new tab) (via Meduza (opens in a new tab)) of the Duma chairman of the Information Policy Committee, Aleksandr Khinshtein, gave the example of Oscar Wilde in an attempt to explain the scope of the law: to say “that he was an outstanding writer only thanks to his guidance, then that would be propaganda”, but simply “a mention of that fact in his biography” would not do it.
But the deputy head of Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media monitoring agency, defined propaganda as the “imposition of information with the aim of forming distorted positive opinions about a destructive phenomenon.” To me, that sounds like a much broader mandate than Wilde’s example of Khinshtein suggests, and I suspect many people are going to butt heads with ungenerous interpretations of an already ungenerous law.
Activists tell The Moscow Times (opens in a new tab) that the representation of LGBT people is simply prohibited in the Russian media at the moment. Others tell Reuters (opens in a new tab) that while adult-only gay bars are likely to continue to operate, public same-sex kissing and advertising is likely to be taken as violations of the law.
It is, of course, a horrible law, and if you are wondering why Russian politicians are talking about this sort of thing instead of their ongoing and faltering war, you need only look to their previous comments for answers. Khinshtein has been quoted as saying that “LGBT today is an element of hybrid warfare and in this hybrid warfare we must protect our values, our society and our children.” In other words, it is an attempt to prop up a definable Russian nation on the pillars of (a certain interpretation of) the Christian faith and social hyperconservatism, distinct from and opposed to the West. As always, it’s just innocent people, LGBT Russians, caught in the crossfire.
