Russia blocks 23 ‘LGBT propaganda’ websites as requested by Safe Internet League

Head of Russia’s Safe Internet League Ekaterina Mizulina said that following the league’s appeals to member of parliament Alexander Khinshteyn and Rosmolodezh organisation 23 links to resources containing “LGBT propaganda” were added to the banned list site.

Coming Out, an LGBT initiative group that provides legal, psychological, and other help to queer people for free, was among the blocked sites, the organisation told Novaya Gazeta Europe.

“We have not received any notifications about a block from Roskomnadzor (Internet watchdog — translator’s note) or Rosmolodezh, even though Roskomnadzor last week demanded that our hosting provider delete our website,” Coming Out said.

Overall, the Safe Internet League wanted 113 websites blocked. Access to eight of them is partially restricted. Moreover, 51 resources were rejected due to not meeting the assessment criteria, while 35 more resources were not available to experts, Mizulina said.

According to her, Rosmolodezh also blocked the Telegram channel of blogger Hilmi Forks who was earlier accused of promoting “non-traditional relations and sex change propaganda” and the YouTube channel of transgender blogger Milena Petrova.

“My official address to Ekaterina Mizulina: suck it! Meow,” Petrova commented on the decision. More than one million people are subscribed to her YouTube channel.

Earlier today, Russian streaming platform Yandex Music blocked Ways of Acceptance, a podcast dedicated to LGBT people.

Moreover, reports emerged that the official Russian version of Hogwarts Legacy translates the phrase “Yes, she’s my wife” as “Yes, she’s my friend”.