It’s become difficult for pro-gay celebrities in relation to Russia recently due the new laws banning the ‘promotion of non-traditional sexual relationship to minors’. Although Putin insists it’s not an issue and will supposedly protect youths, other more zealous lawmakers are already trying to use the laws to try and silence both gay celebs and allies, whether they’re talking to minors or not.
Now Ian McKellen has been talking about how it’s affected him, telling the Radio Times, “Imagine trying to be a gay actor, a gay anything in modern Russia?. Where to be positively oneself, to be affectionate in public with someone you love of the same gender, or to talk of that love in the hearing of anyone under 18, will put you in prison? That’s why I can’t go to Russia.”
He added he had been told by the Foreign Office that “they couldn’t protect me from those laws,” and so as a well-known gay advocate his safety could not be guaranteed there.
McKellen adds that he cannot believe this is the situation “in the land of Tchaikovsky, Diaghilev, Rudolf Nureyev — gay artists whose sexuality informed their work.”
The UK Foreign Office has recently changed its advice to travellers to Russia, warning them of “a degree of intolerance” of homosexuality, and that people should bear that in mind if they decide to go there.
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Actress Maria Bello has gained a lot of fans thanks to the likes of Coyote Ugly and A History Of Violence. Now she’s penned a piece for the New York Times where she talks about her sexuality and the fact she’s bisexual and in a relationship with a woman.
Last week wasn’t a great one for Alec Baldwin, who despite his public statements of support for LGBT caused, once again found himself caught up in controversy over gay slurs he seemingly uttered. A video emerged of him calling a photographer a ‘c*cksucking f*g’. Baldwin admitted to the first word but denied the second, although the video certainly seems to suggest he did indeed utter the f-bomb.
Vladimr Putin keeps insiting Russia is homophobic and new laws aren’t about adding official backing to the demonisation of LGBT people, but simply ensure ‘non-traditional relationships’ aren’t promoted to minors. However there seems little doubt that the result has been to give carte blanche to those who wish the threaten and commit violence against LGBT people, as well as to chill discussion of gay topics, whether they involve minors or not.