Russian Band Releases Pro-LGBT Video

Russian band Sansara on Tuesday released a pro-LGBT video for their single "We Will Become Better." 

The video is about "two people who love each other but forbid themselves because of societal judgment around their relationship, and so unfortunately it cannot happen," its writer Evgeny Primachenko told The Moscow Times.

The clip has so far been received with "either absolute love or absolute hate," Primachenko said.

Primachenko said he feels “100% confident that things are going to get better” after the video’s release. Director Andrzej Gavriss was more doubtful, telling The Moscow Times: “You can’t change the world just like that. You have to go one step at a time.” 

Many Russian media outlets were afraid to cover the video because of Russia's law banning displays of "gay propaganda," Primachenko said. 

Critics of the controversial 2013 law say it is used to silence LGBT voices by effectively banning representations of the LGBT community and their relationships.

The video’s June 29 release marks the one-year anniversary of a nationwide vote on constitutional changes that added language defining marriage as "between a man and a woman" to the Constitution. The amendments were approved by 77% of Russian voters.

"We Will Become Better" marks a stark contrast to how pro-Kremlin media portray LGBT relationships.

In a 2020 ad promoting the constitutional vote, a gay couple is shown encouraging their newly adopted son to wear a dress. 

“This is what will happen if you don’t vote for the constitution change,” the commercial warns viewers. 

Sansara’s emotional video ends with a message from its creators — “Love is everyone’s right” — and directs viewers to a hotline and the Russian LGBT Network’s website.