Pictures Linking Putin with Homosexuality Prohibited in Russia

(Blogmensgo, gay blog of April 11, 2017) The Russian minister of justice recently published a list with 4,074 “extremist contents” forbidden according to an anti-propaganda law, which prohibits any justification or glorification of homosexuality. Item 4,071 on this list refers to a picture insinuating that the Russian president’s sexuality deviates from the norm.

The picture mentioned on the list may well refer to the one below that shows Vladimir Putin with loud make-up (a pale face, red lipstick and blue eye shadow). It has been floating around in the Web since 2013 but its message has changed in the meantime.

Initially, the text of this Putin caricature was: “They say they are numerous but there is no one among the people I know.” Later, the legend changed to: “Stop homophobia.”
In other words, the initial message of the picture “Putin is gay” changed to “Putin is a homophobe.” In any case, the consequence of the rainbow flag in the background is that anyone who shows or transmits it in Russia is basically liable to prosecution.

The list of the minister of justice is based on a court decision from May 11, 2016 and has already lead to the prosecution of a Web activist.

The “picture” in the list is not precisely defined, which means it could also refer to other pictures such as the following image of Putin and Medvedev. The two politicians previously swapped their jobs as president and prime minister so that they are depicted here as mirror images of each other, wearing strong make-up and Gaultier-style sailor sweaters. The style of the picture reminds us of the edited photographs done by the French artist couple Pierre & Gilles.

In order to criticize this law, and most likely as an amusement, artists quickly started using other images of Putin, embellishing them with rainbow flags and distributing them over the internet.

Frank-S / MensGo
Main source: The Moscow Times, April 5, 2017.
Initial source: 20minutes.fr, April 5, 2017.