Gays for Putin!

Gays for Putin! held its first demonstration to support Putin's presidential campaign on 3 March 2018 after filing a notice in Smolny. The demonstration was held in St. Petersburg, the hometown of Putin and Vitaly Milonov, a self-described "demon hunter" who can "smell gays" and authored the local law that was the model for the national gay propaganda law.[3] After submitting an application to the Smolny profile committee, a couple of gays attended a service in the nearby Smolny Convent of St. Petersburg, praying for the success of a good undertaking. Also that month, the Moscow gay group members also held a demonstration in Moscow.[4]

Maxim Neverov, a sixteen-year-old co-founder of Gays for Putin,[5] submitted 12 applications for pro-Putin and LGBTQ public events to city officials in Biysk.[6] He applied for permission for a performance of a Gays for Putin play, and rallies to recognize Putin as a saint and defending gay people named Vitaly.[7] Authorities rejected his applications and published his address and phone number on the internet.[6] In an interview with Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, Neverov said he was picked up from his school by authorities and forbidden from organizing the events. In July he received a letter from the police accusing him of spreading gay propaganda and ordering him to appear before a committee.[5] Neverov was the first minor to be charged and convicted under Russia's gay propaganda law.[8] He was ordered to pay a 50,000 ruble fine for three photographs that appeared in a private album on VK.[5] The conviction was overturned on appeal.[7]

• LGBT rights in Russia
• List of LGBT-related organisations