The Terrifying Reality of Life Under Russia s Anti-Gay Laws

The Iron Closet: Russia s draconian anti-gay laws effectively licensing violent vigilante gangs to target the LGBT community. Subscribe to Journeyman here: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=journeymanpictures Brutally beaten and forced to drink their own urine while being filmed for internet broadcasts, homosexuals lured into the hands of vigilante groups like Occupy Pedofilyaj (who uniformly view gays as paedophiles) should be very afraid. But they can t expect any help from the police: if they re caught the police arrest the victims and not their torturers. "The objective is to look for paedophile-minded residents and film a video that will them leave them publicly disgraced", Yekaterina Zigunova, of the group Occupy Pedofilyaj, boasts unashamedly. The encouragement and free hand they re given is one of the more confronting features of Russia s anti-gay stance. The law has left homosexuals living in fear. Even an expression that you believe in equal rights, or any public display, could result in arrest. "Theoretically it s possible to start hauling us into the police station today", Masha Gessen says about co-habiting with her partner. But they re not giving up and see the Olympics as a great opportunity to confront Russian society. As one activist, Polina, says, "I would call on Games participants to come here and to do visible things in support of LGBT people. Only this way will we have a public discussion". Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/journeymanpictures Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JourneymanNews https://twitter.com/JourneymanVOD Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/journeymanpictures For downloads and more information visit: http://www.journeyman.tv/film/5989 ABC Australia - Ref: 5989 Journeyman Pictures is your independent source for the world s most powerful films, exploring the burning issues of today. We represent stories from the world s top producers, with brand new content coming in all the time. On our channel you ll find outstanding and controversial journalism covering any global subject you can imagine wanting to know about.