Hidden In Plain Sight: LGBT Activists Troll World Cup In Russia

Six gay rights activists from (left to right) Spain, The Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia, have taken to the streets of Russia to display the rainbow flag while the World Cup is under way.
 
 
 

The six, who have launched a website to promote the project, are dressed in their national teams’ colors so as not to attract suspicion.

The activists near a Russian policeman. The officer may have been wondering what a Dutch fan is doing in Russia -- Holland failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

The activists sitting on a World War II memorial next to Moscow’s Kremlin.

The group in a bar next to a bust of Lenin. Brazilian Eloi Pierozan Junior (in yellow) says his boyfriend warned him of the danger of protesting gay rights in Russia, but says “I’m not worried about the risk, it’s a project that I really want to be involved in.... It’s a call to love.”

The group under a portrait of Soviet writer Maksim Gorky, in the Moscow subway.

The group of mostly creative professionals decided to display their stealthy version of the LGBT-rights flag because they say homosexuality is “persecuted, sometimes even by jail sentences” in Russia.

“We have taken advantage of the fact that the country is hosting the World Cup at the same time as Pride Month, to denounce their behavior and take the rainbow flag to the streets of Russia.
Yes, in the plain light of day, in front of the Russian authorities, Russian society, and the whole world, we wave the flag with pride.”

There is no law against homosexuality in Russia, but a 2013 law passed by the Russian Duma made it illegal to distribute “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships” to minors.

The group pose with a group of unwitting Russian high-school students on their graduation day.
 

When the images were posted to Reddit on July 9, reactions were mixed.

Most commentators applauded the striking visual statement. Others decried the group for not acting like guests.
 

It is unclear whether the group is still in Russia.