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Battle for the online community A journalist from Nizhny Tagil, accused of
spreading gay-propaganda by Vitaly Milonov, is ready to stand up for her project in court.
It was reported that on Friday an administrative case had been brought against Elena Klimova.
Elena's online project "Children-404" ("Deti-404"), which e givesLGBT children a chance to share
their experiences and problems, prompted the case. At present, the project has 16 thousand
followers. - "One girl wrote to me saying 'Thank you,
you saved my life. Literally'. I nearly cried when I read her words." - - Elena Klimova
. "Words of gratitude are music to my ears.
But there are enough letters that are quite critical or even intimidating." Lena Klimova
is the person behind online community "Children-404", where LGBT teenagers are given the chance
to share their experiences and problems related to their *** orientation. Within a year
of the project's being set up, more than 1500 children have sought our help. Now Elena is
in trouble herself. An administrative case was brought against the journalist from Nizhny
Tagil for alleged violation of the gay propaganda law. St.Petersburg legislator Vitaly Milonov
lodged a complaint to legal authorities. We contacted Vitaly on Skype to ask about his
reasons. - "The group is to be closed, and it's the
right thing to do. It's immoral and illicit. Children with mental and communication problems
are offered to come to terms with their deviant sexuality." -- Vitaly Milonov
The fate of the project will be decided in courtroom. "Children-404" was born last spring
with a number of publications criticizing the pending legislation prohibiting "gay propaganda"
among underage children. Shortly after, Elena Klimova created the online community on Russian
social network Vkontakte so that LGBT teenagers could anonymously share their stories.
"I told my mom that I am going to stay with my close friend in the other part of town,
and shecalmed down a bit. Sometimes, when she's alone at home I come to visit her. She
has probably guessed that I am gay. I would come out to her, but I don't want to hurt
her." "My mom hates gays and lesbians, constantly
repeating that they should be expelled from the country, no matter my conversations with
her. Things have improved slightly , I give her hints, but to no avail. I am really dreading
her reaction. She's now came to terms with my tattoos, piercing, ear plugs, but she can
hardly do so about this [homosexuality]." "When I was 17, I moved to a big city hoping
to start a new and free life, but homophobic society only exacerbated my depression."
According to Elena, teens can not only talk to each other in this online community, but
could also get professional psychological counseling.
- "We have a team of pro bono professional counselors, who provide counseling services
and follow up free of charge to these teenagers. Some children really have no one to ask for
help, because not every parent will understand their problems. If something happens, they
have nowhere to go. For instance, a school psychologist.. There were cases when they
outed children to their parents. They're crazy.." -- says Klimova.
A row around the internet community has been a subject of controversy. Anna Gizullina,
lecturer at Ural Federal University and a professional counselor, knows about the experiences
of LGBT teenagers very well. She believes the project should by no means be closed.
- "It's an open online space where teenagers can ask for help and receive support from
professional counselors. There's no alternative to this web resource, that's how public psychological
services work." -- said Anna Gizullina, professional counselor, Ural Federal University lecturer.
Activist Fyodor Krasheninnikov doesn't see any harm in this online community either.
He said that after Milonov lodged his complaint, Krasheninnikov inspected the website and didn't
find any gay-propaganda on it. - "Everyone has a right to share their experiences.
Why does one have to interfere with it? Nobody is propagating anything in that community.
Quite the opposite, there are horrible stories... Noone is gonna sell on. " wonders Krasheninnikov.
- - The fate of the project is going to be decided
in a few weeks' time. Elena Klimova faces fines of up to 100,000 rubles. Members of
the online community have already started to collect money to pay for the fines. At
present there are more than 16 thousand members in this community.