A Russian lesbian family Received death threats After they appeared in an advertisement for the food chain VkusVill, they said they felt safe in Barcelona and accepted their identity.
After the family appeared in an advertisement, they became the target of a hate campaign on social media. The company later apologized and replaced the photo with a photo of a heterosexual family.
“We feel unsafe Russia Because of its gay laws,” said Milla, the family’s youngest daughter. “Many chat rooms have posted our Instagram accounts and email addresses. There are many stupid comments, but there are also terrible comments, such as the image of an axe covered in blood. “
Her mother Yuma and partner Zhenya showed up in the ad with their two daughters under the slogan “Recipe for a Happy Family,” but the company quickly withdrew the campaign after receiving a large number of hate emails.
After VkusVill issued an apology saying that photos showed lack of professionalism among its employees, the family was bombarded by phone calls and hate emails on social media, including threats to rape Yuma’s eight-year-old granddaughter.
“We have no anti-discrimination law [in Russia] So we don’t have any protection,” Mira said. “We can’t call the police. “
Mira said that the family did not have any bad feelings about VkusVill. “This is just a company in a capitalist country with a homophobic government,” she said. “We are not angry with them. We are happy that we are allowed to speak for ourselves and represent our LGBT family because LGBT people in Russia are lonely and abandoned by their families. They are afraid and not accepted by society, so this is We speak of opportunities for our existence.”
In 2013, Russia passed the “Homosexual Propaganda Law”, “to protect children from the promotion of messages that deny traditional family values”, and prohibits “promoting non-traditional sexual relations to minors” in the media and the Internet.
The law forces teachers and medical professionals to self-censor their statements about non-traditional families and is used to shut down websites that provide information and services to young LGBT people across Russia.
“The Spanish newspaper El País published a story about us and many people Spain Saying that we should come, we will be safe here, and we deserve better,” she said. “In addition, people say that the LGBT policy here is good and it has received a lot of support.
“We cannot go back to the current system because we will not be safe,” Mira said. “Russia is home, it is in our hearts, we want to be with our people, but the safety of our family is the first thing.
“We are not sure about our future, but we feel safe Barcelona. Here, we can be ourselves and live like ordinary families. My mother and sister hope to get married and have children here, which is something we can’t do in Russia.
“We are very happy to show our happiness and show to the Russian people that queer people without such happiness can see that it is real.”
