Russian authorities have arrested a gay couple over videos they uploaded to YouTube and TikTok.
Gela Gogishvili,23, and his boyfriend Haoyang Xu, 21, create videos that show them doing popular dance trends and depicting their lives as a gay couple. They’ve run afoul of Russia’s strict anti-gay propaganda laws which ban any depiction of homosexuality being seen by children.
The couple met two years ago on a dating app after Chinese born Haoyang Xu moved to Russia to study. SInce then they’ve built up a loyal legion of followers on the social media platforms.
In a video posted to YouTube Gogishvili revealed that the police had recently stopped his boyfriend on the premise of needing to see his passport and registration documents. The police asked the couple to go with them to the police station.
“It seemed like a trap,” Gogishvili said in the video. “We arrived at the police station, and they accused me of LGBTQ+ propaganda Article 6.21. Haoyang is threatened with deportation. They deceived us.”
According to Russian courts Xu was accused of uploading 19 videos in which he and Gogishvili “touch each other on different parts of the body, including the genitals” and also accused of “spreading among minors the desire to change sex.”
Xu was subsequently found guilty and sentence to a week in a temporary detention centre and will now be deported from the country to China. His lawyers appealing the ruling. Gogishvili will face court on Thursday and could be fined between 100,000-200,000 rubles (AUD $1,826 – $3,652).
The laws against portraying non-traditional sexual relationships to minors were introduced by President Vladimir Putin in 2013. In 2022 the law was extended to cover all people, with additional laws about promoting the existence of transgender people to minors.
OIP Staff
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