Work on "Error 404"

At the end of last week, it became known that Elena Klimova from Nizhny Tagil of the Sverdlovsk region may become the second - from among Russian journalists - the victim of the law on the prohibition of propaganda of non -traditional sexual relations. The first, as you know, was the editor-in-chief of the Khabarovsk newspaper "Young Far East" Alexander Suturin, who was sentenced to a 50-thousandth fine for an article about the teacher of the teacher, Alexander Ermoshkin. Sutorin is going to appeal the verdict, and Klimova has only to hear him. In fairness, I must say that Elena appears in the protocol on an administrative offense not as the author of the publication in the media, but as the creator of the Children 404 group VKontakte. A statement with a request to hold a girl to justice was filed by a deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly Vitaly Milonov. Just a couple of weeks ago, Elena was already summoned to the police, where in an interview with the investigator it seemed that all the points above the I were set up - there was no question of any initiation of a matter of speech. However, on January 31, the girl was again invited to the conversation, and they informed that the court would still be. Elena told Details in an interview with Radio Liberty.

- Lena, when and why did you create this group, which can now cost a round amount? - In March 2013, I, as a journalist of Rosbalt, wrote a material dedicated to the law on gay propaganda, which was then only going to adopt the State Duma. And she received a response-a letter from a 15-year-old-Lesbian girl. She had problems in the family and school, she even thought about suicide, but after that article she changed her mind. I thanked me, we phoned her, I wrote down her story. And after that she began to look for information about LGBT teenage on the Internet, but almost did not find anything. And then I decided to do this topic. - You were not afraid that you would fall under the law that was preparing to adopt the State Duma? - No. It was strange that the deputies talk about the protection of children, but do not think about such a category as LGBT teenage. This law not only does not protect them in any way, but on the contrary - says that they are second -class people. After one of the LGBT groups of VKontakte, I threw a cry: I asked teenagers to answer a kind of questionnaire. In seven days, 115 people from Russia wrote to me, there were also several responses from Ukraine and Belarus. It turned out a small statistics on the basis of which I wrote a few more materials for Rosbalt-in particular, about the problem of a fireplace-out: what difficulties are adolescents who have opened their orientation to relatives and friends, their thoughts about the future, are gay propaganda who are going to exist in the existence of State Duma that are going to adopt the law? One of the survey participants proposed creating a closed group for communication, the other sent a photo of a plush bear, which was holding a note “Children 404, I love you”. So there was an idea of photo action - so that adolescents send their photos with closed faces and a small story about themselves. Then it also never occurred to me that this would result in some kind of mass long-term project. - And to whom were these stories intended? - Initially, it was assumed that adults would read the letters, thus learning about the existence of LGBT teenage, their life and convincing that no propaganda exists. Because almost all authors tell about independently realized their orientation - in different ways, at different ages, but without external influence, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and friends. None of them believe in gay propaganda. Later, when the VKontakte group appeared, the idea was a little transformed. Now it exists to come, share your problems, give advice, and provide moral support to those who need it. Whoever wants to talk about his difficulties, writes to me by mail, and I, correcting errors, lay out the story on the wall of the group, where the participants comment on it. We have a small group of psychologists who work with particularly difficult cases. In addition, a group on Facebook is valid, and now we are constructing our own site with several sections. - You can briefly tell who consists in the group and what is its daily life? - For six months with a little, more than 15,700 people joined the group. I see that there is still a stable increase. Moreover, all the information about the project diverged exclusively on the network, the media wrote little about us, and after these publications the number of participants grew slightly. About 20 percent of community members are minors. The most adults-over 40. There are also parents of LGBT teenage, at least two turned to me. 80 percent of participants, I think, belong to LGBT. Every day 4-5 letters come to me by mail, respectively, 4-5 posts per day appear on the wall. Girls write more often, but there are more guys in the group. Apparently, it is more difficult for them to ask for help or advice. Although gays in Russia falls harder than lesbians. The youngest author of the letter, by the way, is 12 years old ... - Do you think that at the age of 12 you can already realize your orientation? - At the age of 12, you can already fall in love. Many people ask me: they say, why do you support these teenagers, half of them get married in a few years, get married, give birth to children! Let it be so. But does this mean that now, when they ask for help, they do not need to help? If the teenager writes that he is unrequited by a friend, he must be supported and reassured - not for him to think, yes, I am gay, and so that he does not make stupid things. - What is mostly written about? About the difficulties of taking yourself or about conflicts with others? - Basically, we are still addressing us who have already accepted themselves, went this long and difficult path. They write that parents and friends are asking about personal life, they say, why is there no girl or guy? Parents are often trying to control: who writes, who are you calling, with whom did you go? - And how do the guys behave in such situations? - Trying to predict the reaction of parents. After a mass discussion of the Law on Gay Propagand, many teenagers simply began to be afraid of their own dads and mothers, hearing what and how they say about people of non-traditional orientation. Therefore, they often open to close friends, and those, as a rule, immediately accept it. It is much harder with parents: after a fireplace, many limit freedom, some even move to another city. Recently, for example, a letter came from the 16th years of Katya from Tambov: he writes that her mother climbed into the tablet, saw a correspondence with her girlfriend, arranged a scandal. She doesn’t let it go anywhere, except for the school, wrote it to a psychiatrist, said that if necessary, she would take her to church and even convert to Islam. He threatens to talk to the parents of the second girl, told about the situation to all her friends and relatives. She also warned that if her daughter was not corrected until 18 years old, she would drive her out of the house and deprive her of material support. Now Katya is trying to understand how to live to her 18 ... By the way, she was given 75 tips, but of course, she will have to make a decision herself. In our group, the rule: not a single advice is the only true one. By the way, there is a section “History with a continuation”, in which participants talk about the development of the situation ... I must say that most parents in a few months or even years still accept the orientation of their child.

- How did it happen that at first the police told you that there would be no case, and then they still transferred him to court? - Don't know. All this happened after Milonov wrote a bunch of statements to different instances, and they all came to Nizhny Tagil. When on January 17 I was first called to the Nizhny Tagil inter -municipal department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the detective of the criminal department, which was talking to me, asked the most general questions: when I created the group, for what purpose? I explained everything, and he said that he did not see any reason for drawing up the protocol. However, two weeks later I was summoned to him, and he said that the court would still be-they say, I still have no reason for the case, but the person was forced. I realized that they just pressed him. - How did the members of the group react, when did you learn about it? - I received great support. They filled up with letters: someone offered legal assistance, someone-to start raising money, someone already wanted to transfer money. I thanked everyone and said that there is nothing so far. We will wait for the court decision, and if we write out a fine, we will dispute it. If you still have to pay, I am sure that my friends and supporters will help to raise money. After the verdict was sentenced to the editor of the Khabarovsk newspaper, I do not have any illusions. He was fined for the phrase of the Hey Teacher, in which they saw the constitution of the equivalent of traditional and non-traditional relations. And we have such a statement in each letter, because almost everyone writes: I tried to make sure that I was normal, and now I was convinced, I am the same as everyone else. Of course, the group can be closed, but in this case, our main site will be the site, which we are now working on the creation of. The court in this case should be held in February. By the way, a few days before the adoption of the law on the promotion of non -traditional relations among minors, the author of the bill Elena Mizulina gave an interview to the newspaper Ru , in which she stated that the draft “Children 404” did not fall under the law. Moreover: if the teenager himself is looking for information on the topic of non -traditional relations, this also does not fall under the law: “ - Tell me, do you know about the project“ Children 404 ”? - No, I don't know. - This is a site where children of non -traditional orientation send their stories, tell how they live. I beg you very much, look at this site before the adoption of the law in the second reading. - Such a project does not apply to the propaganda of non -traditional relations. - And what about these children when they find that they are not like everyone else? Where do they get the information that this is not a disease, that this is normal? -Information explaining, describing, not calling for something, not provocative, not depicting non-traditional sexual relations, is not propaganda, it can be by the law in access for adolescents .... ... by the way, when finalizing the law, we clearly chose such formulations that, for example, if the life of a person of non-traditional orientation is shown, then this is not propaganda, it is not aimed at the formation of some attitudes in children, this is simply information. News plots are also just information, not propaganda. If two people of the same floor are coming hands, this is also not propaganda. And if the child is looking for some information himself, if he needs it, this is also not propaganda, because there is no purposeful formation of attitudes in children ... ”. Meanwhile, today it became known that in the city of the Dyatkovo of the Bryansk region, the commission for minors decided to put a warning and register it on the schoolgirl, since the girl “openly recognized herself as a person of non -traditional sexual orientation” and since the summer of 2013 “systematically disseminated information aimed at the formation of minors distorted ideas about the social equivalent of traditional and non -traditional sexual sexuals relationship ".