Dispatches: Hunted

BaZmO*

Anybody watch this documentary on Channel 4 last night? Shocking stuff, and it really does make you despair for humanity.

Hunted explores the terror that gay people in Russia are calling 'hunting season'

The level of hostility towards gay people in Russia right now is eye-watering, writes Liz MacKean on the eve of the Sochi Winter Olympics. Watch Channel 4's Dispatches tonight at 10pm.


Crawling through the morning traffic in St Petersburg, I was greeted with a surprising sight in the car alongside: a young man was staring intently at images of naked women in a magazine propped up on his steering wheel. Had those been images of young men, he'd have been breaking the law.

The propaganda law, passed unanimously last summer, has been widely condemned as isolating Russia's gay, lesbian and transgender community. But one often-overlooked feature of it is that it is now illegal to make even "neutral" references to under 18s about "non-traditional" relations. In other words, the only acceptable public comments are bound to be negative.

And the level of hostility towards gay people is eye-watering. In St Petersburg we met Timur Isaev, a married father of one. His group, Parents of Russia, targets gay and lesbian teachers. He offers cash to anyone who gives him information: "This is Russia. This is hell for homosexuals," he tells us laughingly. "...they should get used to it."

They organise what they call 'safaris' - they use social media to entice gay men on dates, luring them to a flat where they are attacked.

SimonQuinlank

Very hard to watch.Such a vile,pointless hatred of other human beings.The authorities don't seem to give two sh!ts about the extreme violence towards homosexuals.Faces of attackers clearly seen on video and yet they walk the streets.

Will never,ever be visiting Russia.