5 Same-Sex Russian Couples Apply for Marriage Licenses

The five couples openly opposed the "gay gag" law

On the morning of Friday 28th June in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the most unfriendly cities in the world to gay people, five couples of LGBT activists took to the streets in their wedding outfits.

The aim? To denounce the ever-growing anti-LGBT lawmaking scandal in the city and in Russia as a whole.

The anti-LGBT atmosphere has been growing for quite some time now, and more laws banning so-called "gay propaganda" have been passed since last year when Moscow's gay pride was banned for 100 years, and Saint Petersburg also installed a ban against anything that's remotely gay, or may "offend religious beliefs".

Just prior to gay marriage being supported by SCOTUS (the Supreme Court of the United States), Russia's Senate approved a "gay propaganda" bill, banning foreign same-sex couples and single people from adopting Russian children.

I can't help but realize that my theory last year about "America's one step forward, Russia's one step back" around LGBT rights is actually pretty true. Just days after Clinton's pro-LGBT speech and the UN last year, Putin showed his support for the anti-LGBT bill that was passed the following week. During those same few days, he basically told Clinton to "shut up" and stay out of Russian politics concerning the Russian elections. Now, SCOTUS says "gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry" and 24 hours later Russia's Senate says "...then we're banning your American gay couples from adopting our Russian children".

This latest law voted by the Senate means any media or gay rights organization could be fined up to one million rubles ($30.8k, €23.2k) and shut down for 90 days, individuals could be fined up to 100,000 rubles ($3k, €2.3k) and foreigners could be fined the same amount, held in jail for 15 days and deported.

As you may know, the Senate adopted the anti-adoption law with 137 votes to 0, with one abstention. Democracy or brainwashing? A French report suggests it's probably the latter. There's been a significant rise in homophobia in Russia ever since these anti-gay laws started to be passed. Murders, attacks and fines for holding your partner's hand in public have been becoming more and more widespread. Some members of the LGBT community have decided to go underground, hide, and hope their troubles will eventually go away. Others have spurred into action and reacted to the tightening homophobic sentiment in the country.

This is why activism is important. The pastivists will never see their troubles just "go away". Once Putin reaches the end of his mandate, he'll have occupied powerful positions in government for longer than Joseph Stalin. Inbred homophobia is hard to eradicate and turning a blind eye to homophobia will only make the work a lot harder further down the line.

This is why these five same-sex Russian couples took to action and showed their disgust towards these recent anti-gay laws before the media this morning in Saint Petersburg. The message was clear, "we want to marry, and Russia won't give us that right".

LGBT activist and founder of the Moscow Gay Pride in 2002, Nikolai Alekseev, said the initiative was a "historic event" and was "amazed" by the daring act these couples performed.

When speaking to Gay Star News Thursday, Alekseev said he estimates that these recent laws are only the tip of the iceberg and that there are more measures to come. "People are getting killed because they are gay. No one really cares in the government" he added, "While Russian LGBTs have another day of sorrow, American LGBTs can celebrate their progress to equality. Congratulations! We ban gay propaganda and gay adoptions, you make all love equal!"