Dmitri Isakov of the Central Russian city of Kazan stands to become the first Russian convicted under the Russian Federation's anti-LGBT laws, said BuzzFeed.
Isakov on July 30 staged a one-man protest against the laws, holding a sign that read, "Being gay and loving gays is normal. Beating gays and killing gays is a crime!" Police filed charges against Isakov Thursday.
Police reportedly filed the charges after a teenager lodged a complaint after seeing pictures of Isakov's protest online. The youth said the he complained at the behest of his father, who resents gays after his mother left their family for another woman.
If convicted, Isakov would be fined about 5,000 rubbles. Four Dutch travelers were arrested under the anti-gay law, but the charges were dropped.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, authorities last week raided the home of activist and lawyer Nicolai Alexeyev after a complaint was filed against him by a member of the Russian parliament. Officials reportedly ransacked his home and took computer equipment.
Alexeyev has been a prominent but controversial figure in Russian gay activism. After testifying before the parliament, he disappeared from public view and his Facebook account went blank.
But then he wrote an op-ed piece for the television channel RT wherein he decried efforts to ban Stolichnaya vodka as well as boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Instead, he called for revoking the travel documents of anti-gay Russian officials and urging the European Court to intervene on behalf of Russian gays.
"Russian LGBTs have to and will continue to live in their Russian reality and it is them who need help in their fight for equality and better life," Alexeyev wrote. "And we will continue this fight on the ground, with or without the support of the international community. The laws banning homosexual propaganda will be repealed, as they are now on the wrong side of history."
On August 28, Alexeyev responded to an op-ed piece by Out Magazine columnist and porn mogul Michael Lucas that pointed to Alexeyev's erratic-seeming behavior. On Twitter, Alexeyev said that he was leaving activism: "All the world can thank @MichaelLucasNYC I decided to leave LGBT activism. I only paid own money and faced insults (sic)"
Alexeyev then added that if anything happened to his mother, he would "personally hire a contract killer" to kill Lucas.
But two days later Alexeyev reappeared on Twitter to say that he had been participating in what he called a "social experiment" and was not quitting activism.
"My social experiment is almost over," he wrote. "Thanks to all who participated."
Other reports suggest that it is not only public activists beginning to feel the heat. Gay Star News reported Wednesday that residents of a building in the port city of Rostov-on-Don were warned by a flyer that a gay had been spotted in the building and urged them to remain vigilant. "There is one step from being homosexual to starting homosexual propaganda and molesting decent people," read the flyer.
Sidebar:
Petition calls for rainbow pins for US Olympic team
An online petition on change.org asking members of the U.S. Olympic team to wear rainbow pins on their uniforms has received more than 29,000 signatures.
"This isn't about politics—it's about human rights. By taking a highly-visible stand in support of human rights, Olympic athletes can send a strong message to the Russian government that their current policies of discrimination are not acceptable to the rest of the world," said activist Laurence Hewitt, who started the campaign, in a statement. "To truly march with pride, the athletes of the world should act with a single voice against this oppression. A voice that Russian citizens, themselves, cannot express."
The petition suggests that athletes could alternatively carry pride flags in the opening ceremonies.
Similar campaigns have also been started in the U.K., Germany, Spain and Canada. Change.org reported that it is currently hosting about 40 online campaigns pertaining to the Olympics.
