‘He loves everyone in the world’

Journalists trace Sergey Lavrov’s complaint about Western schools to viral TikTok about Jesus being ‘bi and non-binary’

On June 28, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov published an opinion piece titled “The Law, Rights, and the Rules,” in which he claimed that “in many Western countries, students learn at school that Jesus Christ was bisexual.” By all appearances, Lavrov, or perhaps his aides, got this information from a popular video circulating on TikTok. The video, in which a mother listens in as her son argues that Jesus was bisexual and non-binary, has gained nearly 11 million views since it was uploaded in late May. Journalists from the Russian outlet It’s My Media were the first to trace Lavrov’s claims to the viral video.

What Lavrov wrote

“Apart from encroaching on international law, the ‘rules’ concept also manifests itself in attempts to encroach on the very human nature. In a number of Western countries, students learn at school that Jesus Christ was bisexual. Attempts by reasonable politicians to shield the younger generation from aggressive LGBT propaganda are met with bellicose protests from the [sic] ‘enlightened Europe.’ All world religions, the genetic code of the planet’s key civilisations, are under attack. The United States is at the forefront of state interference in church affairs, openly seeking to drive a wedge into the Orthodox world, whose values are viewed as a powerful spiritual obstacle for the liberal concept of boundless permissiveness.”

What the kids said on TikTok

The TikTok was recorded by Emmaline Carroll Southwell, a mother of three who lives with her family in Australia. Posted under the hashtag “mums of TikTok,” the video shows Southwell eavesdropping on two of her kids as they “talk a bit about God.”

One of the children argues that Jesus was “bi and non-binary,” because “he loves everyone in the world” and “he wears a dress and he’s a man.” Southwell jokingly asks her children if they learned this at school; when her son says yes, she replies, “that is not true, they did not teach you that at school.” When the child insists he learned this in school, his mother says “that’s a lie.” The video ends with Southwell shaking her head and asking her kids if they know “any other fun facts about Jesus.”

Meduza was unable to find any other evidence that schools in Western countries portray Jesus as bisexual, aside from the TikTok of Southwell’s son making his case. That said, it’s probably just a coincidence.

Text by Maxim Ivanov

Edited translation by Eilish Hart