Russian bookstores began removing works on LGBT themes this Tuesday, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree tightening restrictions on activities considered to promote the rights of this community.
The new legislation, passed Monday, extends the ban on spreading “propaganda for non-traditional sexual relations” to bookstores, movie and video game companies, advertisers and the media.🇧🇷
Until now, restrictions on topics related to LGBT (acronym for lesbian, “gay,” bisexual, and transgender) rights have been limited to minors under the age of 18.
According to the independent news agency Novaya Gazeta Europe, Russia’s largest bookstore chain Chitay-Gorod and the popular Moscow bookstore Respublika have withdrawn all works related to “non-traditional relationships”.
“It will no longer be possible to buy books” such as “Leto v Pionerskom Galstuke” (“A pioneer relationship in the summer”, in free translation), a “bestseller” about the relationship between two teenage boys, said a Chitay employee -Gorod .
LitRes, one of Russia’s largest e-book sellers, asked authors to rewrite their works to comply with the anti-LGBT lawthe RBC news site reports.
“If the author does not respond, we will analyze the text ourselves and decide whether or not to sell the book,” says liters content development director Yevgeny Selivanov.
According to this official, the number of books requiring revision due to LGBT content should be 1% of the general inventory.
Under the new legislation, violations are punishable by fines ranging from 100 thousand to four million rubles (between 1,500 and 60,500 euros) and, if committed by non-resident citizens, can lead to 15 days in prison and expulsion from Russia.
In 2020, Russia explicitly made same-sex marriages illegal by passing amendments to the country’s constitution that, among other things, stipulated that “the institution of marriage is a union between a man and a woman”.
Last week, several Russian libraries and bookstores developed techniques to hide works by authors identified as “foreign agents,” including wrapping them in brown paper or blank covers and telling readers they are out of print.
The measure came after the entry into force last Thursday of a tougher version of the “foreign agents law” signed by Putin in July, which began to penalize those who receive foreign aid of any kind and not just make money.
Source: DN
