A screenshot of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” – Photo: YouTube
The Russian streaming service Kinopoisk has given an 18+ adult rating to the cartoon series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
It appears to be an attempt to comply with the country’s law prohibiting the spread of pro-LGBTQ “propaganda,” reports Meduza, a Latvian-based Russian- and English-language online news outlet.
Kinopoisk did not officially explain why it changed the rating of the children’s show. However, speculation has largely centered around a tomboyish character named Rainbow Dash, who has been interpreted as queer despite having no stated sexual orientation.
Those familiar with the My Little Pony series note that the rating may also have been inspired by the introduction of two characters — Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty — who appear to be a same-sex couple in the show’s ninth and final season.
The cartoon series, intended for viewers ages four to seven, follows a group of ponies, pegasi, and unicorns in the kingdom of Equestria on various adventures, including searches for magical artifacts.
The change in the rating is one of several developments that have taken place in the days and weeks following the Russian Supreme Court’s recent ruling designating the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organization.
Just hours after the court’s ruling, police raided multiple LGBTQ venues in Moscow, including a nightclub, a male sauna, and a bar hosting LGBTQ parties, carding patrons and taking down personal information under the guise of investigating possible drug use.
Meduza reports that the dating app Pure has removed the option for Russian users to indicate their sexual orientation when registering.
According to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti, users from Russia can now only specify their height, weight, and language, while users from all other countries can choose from a list of sexual orientations.
Several other LGBTQ venues and advocacy organizations have permanently closed their doors out of fear of reprisal from the Russian government, which is now empowered to enforce the law and mete out jail sentences — some of which could be as harsh as 12 years in prison — to anyone participating in or providing financial assistance to any LGBTQ organization.
Perhaps even more troublingly, 2GIS, a Russian digital mapping company, has instructed its staff to begin reviewing businesses on the company’s maps and creating a special standalone register of LGBTQ establishments, as reported by Novaya Gazeta.
Staff at 2GIS have reportedly been instructed to check individual entries and file complaints in cases of “compromising” photos or reviews.
“My opinion is that they [data on establishments] will go further,” an anonymous company employee told iStories, an investigative journalism website, as reported on the platform’s Telegram channel.
With LGBTQ entities all listed on a special registry, it doesn’t take much imagination to foresee how the Russian government might use the list if it obtains a copy.
These developments continue more than a decade of actions by government officials targeting the LGBTQ community for persecution or discrimination, often at the urging of, or with the approval of, President Vladimir Putin, a right-wing authoritarian who has touted his opposition to LGBTQ rights to cement support among social conservatives.
In 2013, Putin’s government adopted a law prohibiting the spread of “propaganda” related to “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2022, the law was expanded to make it illegal to promote or acknowledge LGBTQ identity, even among adults.
The law specifically targeted depictions of homosexuality or gender identity on television, online, and in various forms of media, culminating in threats to fine or permanently block streaming platforms like Netflix that offer LGBTQ programming.
The Family Research Council is blasting Ulta Beauty for selling hair products from nonbinary reality star and hairstylist Jonathan Van Ness, best known for Netflix's Queer Eye, and for posting an Instagram video showing Van Ness in a multi-colored dress and white heels, "jumping and shrieking" with excitement as store employees unveil a display featuring a large poster of him.
The famously anti-LGBTQ group claims Van Ness' behavior mocks women and "what he perceives to be female behavior." It also notes that Ulta previously hosted a now-deleted podcast episode featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which it cites as further evidence the company promotes a caricatured view of femininity.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has reposted a CNN clip featuring Doug Wilson, leader of the Christian evangelical movement he follows, in which the pastor calls for making gay sex illegal.
“In the late ’70s and early ’80s, sodomy was a felony in all 50 states. That America of that day was not a totalitarian hellhole,” Wilson says in the seven-minute segment, reports the Daily Beast.
Wilson goes on to say he wishes the United States would revive anti-sodomy laws, which criminalized same-sex relations -- and, in some states, even certain non-vaginal sex acts between consenting heterosexual partners.
Human rights groups, including LGBTQ advocates, accuse the U.S. State Department of politicizing its annual report on global abuses by erasing references to anti-LGBTQ discrimination. According to Al Jazeera, the 2024 Human Rights Report was released months late after Trump appointees rewrote an earlier draft to align with the administration's "America First" agenda.
The revised report, released last Tuesday, adds new categories like "Life," "Liberty," and "Security of the Person." The State Department called the report "streamlined" and said it was designed to stay "aligned to the administration's executive orders."
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