A Christian television channel in Russia is offering to buy members of the LGBTQ community one-way plane tickets to leave the country for good.
A Tsargrad TV anchor, in a video shared to the network’s Facebook page, called LGBTQ people “perverts” and “sodomites,” and told them they should go somewhere like California, where they can “submit to their sins,” reports Newsweek.
The anchor says men who “lay with men” or have “some other perversion” should get in touch with them to take advantage of the offer. The only requirement is to submit a medical record to prove the individual “suffers from” some “form of perversion.”
Russia passed a so-called “gay propaganda” law in 2013, making it against the law to inform minors about the existence of homosexuality. It has been used to put a stop to pride parades and demonstrations.
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Being gay is not against the law in Russia, however, and is not a medical condition, and therefore there would be no such paperwork for members of the LGBTQ community to submit to the station. While Tsargrad claims the offer is legitimate, it is almost certainly an empty publicity stunt.
Reports of gay and bisexual men in Chechnya, a federal subject of Russia, being rounded up, imprisoned, beaten, and in some cases killed, has resulted in some countries taking in refugees from the region, such as Germany, Lithuania, and France. Notably, the United States is not on that list.
In an ironic twist, since the video includes footage of pride parades in other countries, some have asked whether the TV station could be running afoul of the “gay propaganda” law. It is not labeled as inappropriate for children.
