Russia bans piracy websites from streaming Brokeback Mountain over ‘gay propaganda’

Russia has blocked the streaming of Brokeback Mountain, a 2005 American film exploring a love affair between two men, from three piracy websites, Roskomsvoboda, a Russian nonprofit dedicated to fighting digital censorship, reported on Thursday.

Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor ordered the blocking of pages from which the film can be streamed on 29 August, a decision that was enacted on Tuesday, Roskomsvoboda said.

Directed by Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain is often credited as a driving force behind queer cinema becoming more widely accepted by mainstream audiences. The film, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, received widespread critical acclaim, winning numerous awards, including an Academy Award for best director and best supporting actor, in 2006.

Russia’s continued censorship of LGBT content, prompted by legislation providing for fines of up to 4 million rubles (€40,000) for disseminating so-called “LGBT propaganda” has seen the authorities block LGBT films from streaming services, censor and ban books with queer themes, and even block fanfiction websites.

The country’s streaming services removed dozens of popular films featuring same-sex relationships in May, including Brokeback Mountain, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name, Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education, Russian independent news outlet Mozhem Obyasnit reported.

Each removal is prompted by Roskomnadzor threatening to fine the platforms for showing same-sex content, one of the employees told the outlet on condition of anonymity. “We don’t actually brainstorm what films have gay or lesbian scenes,” she said, adding that for the most part, they try to keep the films on streaming “until someone reports them”.

Some TV shows can still be streamed but have had scenes featuring same-sex relationships cut, such as HBO’s Euphoria, one episode of which is 18 minutes shorter than the original, Russian film platform Kinopoisk wrote last July. Other TV shows, such as Sex and the City, had the word “gay” removed from the Russian translation, Kinopoisk noted.

In the case of Brokeback Mountain, the Russian authorities appear to have shifted their focus to pirated content, having reportedly developed a mechanism that combines copyright claims with flagged “LGBT propaganda”.