Russia’s state media regulator has added a prominent website for the Russian gay community to a list of banned sites for violating a law on gay propaganda.
In 2013, media regulator Roskomnadzor said the Gay.ru website did not violate the gay propaganda law that passed the same year. Polls show Russian attitudes toward homosexuality deteriorating since the passage of a law banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors.”
Gay.ru wrote Friday that Roskomnadzor served it a ban notice pursuant to a court ruling in Siberia that it “disseminated information that promotes non-traditional sexual relations.”
An attached letter said the website’s administrators had 24 hours to remove unspecified “information prohibited for distribution in the Russian Federation.”
If the website fails to adhere to Roskomnadzor’s orders, the state regulator gives its Internet service provider 24 hours to block access to the website. If the service provider fails to comply, Roskomnadzor will ban access to the website itself.
“We’ve been with you for 20 years, since September 1997 […] Our website is intended for persons over 18 years of age, whereof it contains an appropriate label,” the website wrote.
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