Russian police seized several drawings from a school art exhibition to investigate possible violations of the country’s ban on gay propaganda after parents complained that they depicted same-sex couples. Russia outlawed “gay propaganda” among minors in 2013, a move that allowed courts to ban gay pride events and was followed by a surge in anti-LGBT sentiment in the country.
В Екатеринбурге прокуратура изъяла детские рисунки со школьного конкурса «Толерантный мир». Угадайте, что им не понравилось?
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The drawings were made by students of a school in Yekaterinburg for an art contest marking the UN’s international day of tolerance. The police said they seized 17 drawings from the competition to investigate complaints that they contain gay propaganda, Interfax reported.
The the 5th- to 11th-graders had portrayed gay couples in their drawings. One drawing attracted attention for depicting the silhouettes of a female couple, a male couple and a mixed couple. “Around 10 other posters hang next to this picture showing a rainbow (a symbol of the sexual minority movement), planets and people of different nationalities,” a Russian news site wrote. “Another work contains the motto ‘We’re for peace! We’re for tolerance!’”