Amidst developing reports that gay men in the Russian region of Chechnya have been detained and tortured, LGBTQ couples around the world have held a "kiss-in" to raise awareness for LGBTQ rights and to protest the reported concentration camp-like prisons.
The campaign, started by Brazilian social justice project Sexuality Outside The Box — also known as [SSEX BBOX] — calls on couples to post photos of themselves kissing to social media, under the hashtag #kiss4lgbtqrights.
[SSEX BBOX] told Pink News in a statement that it began the campaign in order to create "the biggest kiss in the world" to speak out "against the silencing of the LGBTQIA population in Russia."
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"In Brazil, despite the enormous violence against the LGBTQIA population, we can fight for our rights," [SSEX BBOX] told Pink News. "But our community in Russia can not and therefore needs our help."
"In Russia, LGBTQIAs are being shut up by the Putin government," the statement continued. "The LGBTQIA Parade has been banned by law for 100 years! And freedom of expression is increasingly restricted. Therefore, we will make the biggest digital kiss in the world at the place where public protests of LGBTQIA get people throw in jail: the Moscow Kremlin."
Over the past week, hundreds of couples have been posting photos on Instagram with the location tagged at the Kremlin in Moscow.
Reports first surfaced in April that over 100 gay men in Chechnya had been detained and tortured in prisons, facing electric shocking and violent beatings. Pink News reports that at least four people have died in the alleged crackdowns.
Last week, following pressure from world leaders such as German chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian president Vladimir Putin backed an inquiry into the alleged human rights abuses — though the Russian embassy has now claimed that those investigations are complete, and found that "there are no victims of persecution, threats or violence."
Yesterday, activists were detained while attempting to deliver a petition signed by about 2 million people to investigate the prisons.
Meanwhile, the Russian LGBT Network has been on the ground providing a lifeline to victims, and helped to evacuate 40 men from Chechnya.
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To find out more about what you can do to take action and help, head to the Human Rights Campaign's website.
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