Video Wins Gold Medal in LGBT Rights Awareness

Released two days before The Sochi Winter Olympics, the above video has become a viral sensation, receiving nearly a million views with coverage in The Huffington Post, Upworthy, RT, and The Advocate. The video was produced by Berserk, and released in partnership with The Russia Freedom Fund, Athlete Alley, and CoPilot to bring attention to the fact that there are 76 nations - including Russia - where being gay remains a crime punishable by prison sentences and even execution.

GLAAD spotlights LGBT Russian people and families

GLAAD, the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization, today unveiled its GLAAD Global Voices: 2014 Winter Olympics Playbook, a resource guide for journalists and spokespeople covering the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The Playbook will be distributed in four languages to thousands of journalists traveling to Sochi and/or covering the 2014 Winter Olympics and provides essential background information, story ideas, and profiles of LGBT Russians to speak about Russia's anti-LGBT laws.
 
The GLAAD Global Voices: 2014 Sochi Olympics Playbook also marks the launch of the GLAAD Global Voices program, which aims to build support for LGBT equality across the globe by sharing culture-changing stories of LGBT people and families in national and international media.

"As all eyes turn to Sochi, it is critical that the media shine light not only on the anti-LGBT Russian policies, but on the real stories of the horrific persecution facing LGBT people and families in Russia. These families cannot be kept invisible any longer," said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.

GayTravel.com Drops Russia

Due to the recent ban on homosexuality issued by the Russian government, GayTravel.com has officially dropped Russia from the gay-friendly destination listings on their website and say they have fully refunded all of their advertisers from Russia until further notice to directly address and discourage the severity of the homophobia encouraged by the Russian government.

TeesWithTude has a message for Russia

In response to the Russian government’s recent implementation of some extremely draconian anti-LGBT laws, TeesWithTude.com announces a new design sending some LGBT love to the homophobes in the Russian government. Click here to purchase.

I think it's adorable!

U.S Dept of State releases stament about violent gay rights march in Russia

The U.S. Department of State released the following statement by Mark Toner, Deputy Spokesperson, on Sunday, May 29 about Saturday's violent GLBT rights march in Russia that resulted in American gay rights activist Lt. Dan Choi, and nearly 20 others, being beaten and arrested:

"We note with concern that in Moscow on Saturday, May 28, a peaceable demonstration of Russians advocating for the rights of gays and lesbians, joined by international supporters, was forcefully disrupted by counter-protesters, and that Russian security forces then detained people from both groups, including American citizens. Some protestors were seriously injured according to media reports.

Freedom of assembly is a fundamental right all members of the OSCE committed to, including in the Moscow declaration and as recently as the Astana summit. As nationwide legislative elections approach, constraints on the ability of Russian citizens peacefully to gather and express their views will be closely watched in evaluating the integrity of the electoral process.  We call on Russian authorities to work with municipal officials to find better ways to safeguard these fundamental freedoms."

Choi was in Denver last month to speak at a Queer Symposium at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Russian LGBT activist is released

Nikolai Alexeyev, a prominent LGBT rights activist in Russia, said he believes the men who seized him in a Moscow airport last week were state security agents.

Alexeyev said the agents confiscated his phone and pressured him to rescind his complaints in the European Court of Human Rights against Russian officials who have blocked permission for an LGBT Pride event in Moscow.

International pressure may have led to his captors releasing him in a town some 120 miles south of Moscow