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Homophobic Russian politician pranked with perfect selfie

Anti-gay Russian politician Vitaly Milonov caught up in a gay selfie.

 

Melanie Price

Tech

Posted on Feb 4, 2015   Updated on May 29, 2021, 3:01 pm CDT

Russian gay rights activists found themselves on a flight with Russia’s most homophobic politician, Vitaly Milonov, who is active in anti-gay legislation. The women broke the awkward tension by sneaking a selfie, of course.

Milonov has been known to call lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people “sick” and “crazy.”

Milonov proposed the controversial “gay propaganda” law, which was signed into law by Vladimir Putin. The law was put into place “for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information for a Denial of Traditional Family Values.”

Milonov is also known for threatening openly gay athletes and visitors of the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

The St. Petersburg legislator was behind the law signed by Putin calling for Apple’s CEO Tim Cook to be barred entrance to Russia, after he publicly came out. They also demanded the memorial to Apple founder Steve Jobs be removed, according to Reuters.

The women boarded the St. Petersburg-bound flight, noticed Milinov, and took advantage of the opportunity to sneak a pic.

One of the women took to social media to upload the photo and her commentary, CNN reports. “Milonov didn’t say anything. We did a photoshoot with him in the background. When he noticed what we were doing he hid behind his tablet computer. We are very happy. He probably isn’t. But who cares!”

Milonov said in response yesterday all homosexuals were “mentally ill’ after the snap went up on the Internet and went viral, Yahoo News reports.

Illustration by Fernando Alfonso III

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*First Published: Feb 4, 2015, 10:13 pm CST