Russia: Communications watchdog warns TV channel over airing of French musical

Agency says film contains ‘propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations’

A popular Russian TV channel has been warned about its broadcast of an award-winning French musical, which a communications watchdog says contains “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations,” Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL) says in a Sept 12 report.

According to the report, Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media announced it had issued the warning to EvroKino for airing Les Chansons d’Amour, which won France’s César national film award in 2008.

Directed by Christophe Honoré, the musical stars Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Clotilde Hesme and Chiara Mastroianni and was among 20 films chosen for the main competition at the 2007 Cannes International Film Festival.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on legislation prohibiting “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors,” as well as a law prohibiting foreign gay couples from adopting Russian children.

Within the past week, Russian lawmaker Alexei Zhuravlev has also proposed amendments to the country’s Family Code, which would sanction removing children from parents who have a “nontraditional sexual orientation.”

“If it becomes necessary,” he told slon.ru interviewer Olga Pavlikova, law-enforcement agencies will get involved in determining who is gay.

Recently, Russian-born activist and journalist Masha Gessen said that despite her initial hopes, outside condemnation of Russia’s anti-gay policies is not changing anything inside the country, and the time has come for LGBT people to seek asylum abroad.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

Keep Reading

The new generation of gay Conservative sellouts

OPINION: Melissa Lantsman’s and Eric Duncan’s refusals to call out their party’s transphobia is a betrayal of the LGBTQ2S+ community

Over 300 anti-LGBTQ2S+ bills have been introduced this year. This doesn’t mean we should panic

OPINION: While it’s important to watch out for threats, not all threats are created equally. Some of these bills will die a natural death

Xtra’s top LGBTQ2S+ stories of the year

The best and brightest—even most bewildering—stories from a back catalogue brimming with insight

Elon Musk and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton are suing Media Matters. Here’s why queer and trans people should care

OPINION: When politicians and the rich leverage the power of the state to quell dissent, we all lose