Tilda Swinton holds a rainbow flag in Moscow’s Red Square

In the last few weeks there’s been a lot of talk about Russia’s increasingly anti-gay attitudes, which include recent legislation stopping ‘gay propaganda’ (essentially making it illegal to support gay rights), as well as banning foreign gay couples from adopting Russian children.

There has also been shock at reports of gangs luring luring young gay men to meets (via websites), then robbing, beating and torturing them – and seemingly doing it with impunity as some have been happy to post pictures of them doing it online.

Some have suggested a boycott of the Winter Olympics, which will be held in the Russian city of Sochi, while many gay bars have vowed not to serve Russian vodka. Now the Human Rights Campaign has penned an open letter asking for Hollywood’s help in raising awareness of the issues.

Chad Griffin, the group’s president, wrote in his letter to the presidents of the international divisions of 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount PIctures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and The Walt Disney Studios that, “Hollywood has always been a dauntless supporter of LGBT equality — well before public support was easy or politically popular. Now that progress is speeding up here at home, I know you’ll agree that we have a moral responsibility not to ignore backsliding abroad.”

He hopes that Hollywood will “take advantage of all currently-scheduled film premieres in Russia to make clear and visible statements of support for Russia’s beleaguered LGBT community and of opposition to the Russian government’s campaign of institutionalized hate.”

The letter also urges movie execs to make clear the ‘chilling effect’ that laws could have on film production in the country.

You can take a look at the full text of the letter here.

It’s difficult to know whether Hollywood can have any effect on the Russian government, which currently seems determined to show off its anti-gay credentials (many suggest the government doesn’t really care about gay people, but they do like the votes anti-gay policies can generate). However some have expressed hope that this may actually mark that Russia is on the way to gay acceptance. They’ve drawn parallels to what happened in many western nations in the 1980s when gay people began living more openly, which resulted in a backlash that saw many countries enacting new anti-gay laws (such as the UK Section 58, which banned the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools). Hopefully that is what’s happening in Russia and it won’t take them as long as it did many Western countries to find a bit more acceptance.