A Russian TV host has made quite a peculiar remark linking the Chelyabinsk meteorite and the country’s gay movement. Russia’s LGBT community reacted angrily and asked prosecutors to check the host’s show for hate speech.
In a reference to the Old Testament story of the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah, famous journalist Arkady Mamontov said on his
program that the fall of the Chelyabinsk meteorite on February 15
in Russia was related to the country’s growing gay activity.
Mamontov’s program ‘Special Correspondent’ airs on state channel
Rossiya 1.
The host called the meteorite a warning "to all of us that we
should keep the family tradition, traditional love, or else
something else - not only the Chelyabinsk meteorite - will hit
us."
The Russian LGBT Network rights group filed a complaint with the
prosecutor’s office on Thursday. The group accused the show of
hate speech, according to group chairman Igor Kochetkov. He said
that Mamontov also claimed that gays and lesbians want to
"destroy [traditional] Russia.”
A Special Correspondent episode aired on Tuesday included the new
documentary film ‘Litsedei’ (Hypocrites), which tells of the
alleged threat from Western countries that are trying to carry
out a “gay revolution” in Russia by organizing a protest movement
based on claims that homosexuals are oppressed.
The film also alleges that conferences of the LGBT community in
Russia are sponsored from abroad - in particular by the fund of
American business magnate George Soros.
In a statement on the website of the Association of Russian
Lawyers for Human Rights, lawyer and human rights activist Maria
Bast – who was featured in the documentary – accused the makers
of slander and misrepresentation. She went on to say that the
film reflected intolerance and fascism.
Russia’s leading LGBT activist and lawyer, Nikolay Alekseev, has
submitted a request to Moscow authorities to gain permission to
stage a protest against Mamontov’s show. He also said on his
Facebook page that he gave a two-hour interview to the filmmakers
but that none of it was aired.