‘In Russia, There is No Sex But There is HIV/AIDS’ and Absurd Criminal Charges

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 11 – The standing joke in late Soviet times was that in that country, “there was no sex.” Now, the Russian authorities have updated things – and in the Russian Federation, “there is no sex but there is HIV/AIDS,” the blogger Anna K says, and as a result, the powers that be feel free to bring totally absurd criminal charges.

            Yuliya Tsvetkova is an activist in Komsomolsk-na-Amure in the Russian Far East, the blogger says. She heads a children’s theater and actively speaks out against gender-based violence, for the LGBT rights, and freedom for women. And she maintains three VKontakte pages to that end (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5E1B1061545FF).

            As a result of her efforts, she has been fined 50,000 rubles (800 US dollars) and is now under house arrest and is charged with distributing pornography, a charge that could land her in prison for up to six years. This has happened because Timur Bulatov, a self-styled traditionalist who outs gays, began to attack Tsvetkova for her activities.

            The Komsomolsk-na-Amure activist says that his efforts have succeeded so far because “the local powers simply do not understand what is feminism, sex education or activism.”  They live in a world where these terms have “magical powers” to transform people: “if one says LGBT, one makes people into gays and lesbians,” she says they think.

            That prompts Anna K to ask: “What kind of development of society can one talk about if a woman is put behind bars because she talks about vaginas?”

            “Instead of fighting against the distribution of real pornography, searching for criminals, rooting out corruption or catching those who spread drugs, the authorities are persecuting progressive, freedom-loving people who involve themselves with enlightenment,” the blogger continues. 

            The Russian authorities, she continues, act like primary school boys who, after hearing the word “sex,” begin to giggle. Apparently, those now in power are these very same school children who aren’t giggling but using “absurd laws” to hide their own lack of understanding and failure to have grown up.

            “Yuliya is a brave young woman,” Anna K says, “who is involved with sexual education” because the schools have failed in that regard turning over such classes to Orthodox priests who simply say what children must not do.  The result of that, she continues, are “unwanted pregnancies, abortions, rapes and HIV/AIDS.”

            Horrified by this tragedy, Tsvetkova’s supporters are circulating an online petition calling on the authorities to wake up and end this travesty. Tens of thousands of people have already signed. More should.  It is available at change.org/p/следственный-комитет-россии-освободите-юлию-цветкову?recruiter=59310885.