In Makhachkala an administrative case was filed against designer Elnara Askerova for “LGBT propaganda” among minors. The case was about a fashion show she organized where men posed as androgynes.
The crisis management group SK SOS, which provided Askerova with a lawyer, says that the “androgynes” were in fact two young men with light makeup. There were no minors at the show, which was held behind closed doors. Askerova's friends and acquaintances were mostly present.
The show was reported by a passerby, who saw it through a window, and posted a video of it on the Internet. Askerova told SK SOS that the passerby was “a businessman on familiar terms with the administrators of several local sub-publics” who was interested in the premises occupied by her store. The owner of the premises terminated the contract with the designer after the case was filed.
According to Kavkaz.Realii, Askerova and other participants of the show started receiving threats and demands “to apologize to Muslims.” United Russia Duma deputy Sultan Khamzayev called them “outlaws” and said that in an unlawful state, “their heads would have been chopped off long ago.” Askerova's case will be heard on November 25 in Makhachkala; she faces a fine of up to 100,000 rubles ($ 1700).
On November 24, the State Duma passed in its third and final reading the law banning “propaganda” of LGBT, pedophilia, and sex change in advertisements, books, movies, and the media. The Insider has analyzed the law in detail and found out that the deputies not only haven’t provided definitions of “non-traditional values,” but have also been violating the law themselves.