Russian TV offers one-way tickets for gay people to leave country

  • 04/07/2017
Russian TV offers one-way tickets for gay people to leave country
Photo credit: Facebook

A TV channel in Russia has offered to fund one-way plane tickets out of the country for gay people who want to leave.

In a video shared on social media, Tsargrad TV has invited gay people to compete for one-way flights to places like California, which it calls the most liberal state in the US.

"For this you need to have a medical certificate that confirms sodomy or other forms of perversion, and also contact our host. Have a good trip, perverts," a translation of the broadcaster's Facebook post says.

Russia has anti-LGBT laws that prohibit "gay propaganda". The controversial 2013 legislation - signed by Russian president Vladimir Putin - describes homosexuality as "non-traditional sexual relations" and has reportedly ushered in a surge of homophobic propaganda, violence and hate crimes, with the law often used as justification.

Tsargrad TV ad
The final shot in the offensive Tsargrad TV Facebook video. Photo credit: Tsargrad TV / Facebook

The channel, which the BBC describes as a "niche satellite" channel promoting conservative Christian values, often uses offensive terms to refer to LGBT people.

The majority of responses to the video have condemned Tsargrad TV's attitude, despite the country's dominant ant-gay prejudice.

Newshub.