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.
Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity are on the rise, pointing to a worrisome trend.
According to FBI data, even though violent crime overall decreased by 3% from 2022 to 2023, bias-motivated crimes overall, as well as crimes believed to be motivated by sexual orientation or gender identity, increased.
The FBI counted 2,936 incidents believed to have been motivated by a victim's sexual orientation and gender identity in 2023 -- constituting an 8.6% rise from about 2,700 in 2022.
Bias based on a person's sexual orientation constituted about 18.1% of all bias-motivated crimes, while bias based on a person's gender identity constituted 4.3% of all hate crimes -- comprising the third and fourth most prevalent bias motivations, behind race or ethnicity and religion.
The Wyoming Board of Parole has denied a commutation petition filed by Russell Henderson, one of the two men convicted of the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, whose brutal killing became a symbol of anti-gay violence and a rallying cry for hate crime legislation.
Henderson has served 25 years in prison. He was initially given two consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to a charge of first-degree murder.
But he recently sought a commutation of his sentence, in the hope that, with credit for time served, the parole board would reduce his life sentences to a specific number of years in jail.
"I think people can be very performative, and we live in a time where it can be about the clicks and engagements and impressions, and people will say the most volatile things to get attention," says Raquel Willis. "And attention can feel like power, but it's very short-lived and finite."
Willis is a core team member of the Gender Liberation Movement, the organizers behind the Gender Liberation March scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 14 in Washington, D.C.
"It is comical to me or unfathomable to me that anyone would say, to my face, that I don't deserve to live my life on my own terms," she continues. "I think a lot of anti-trans rhetoric I face is people getting away with not having to directly face the folks that they're talking about.
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