Golden Enemas mock Russian homophobes

This month in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality presented its booby-prize Golden Enema awards for outrageously anti-gay statements and action.

Winners included two homophobic American preachers — Scott Lively and James David Manning — along with Russian officials, a Russian journalist and a Russian singer.

This is the group’s announcement of the awards, with subheads by Erasing 76 Crimes:

WINNERS OF THE BOOBY-PRIZE GOLDEN ENEMA 2014

On 18^th December 2014 the Regional Press Institute, St. Petersburg, was the venue for another of the Alliance’s annual “Golden Enema” booby-prize ceremonies. The winners include: Mr. Valery Tatarov (St. Petersburg journalist), the Administration of the Children’s Ombudsman Mr. Pavel Astakhov, the singer Valeria, two American homophobic preachers – Mr. Scott Lively and Mr. James David Manning, St. Petersburg deputy Mr. Vitaly Milonov, and Mr. Vladimir Yakunin, the head of the Russian Railways.

Russia’s social-cleansing “Golden Enema” booby-prize was established by the Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality and is presented annually to public figures and organizations whose homophobic statements and actions have attained particular distinction in the past year. This year the prize was awarded for the third time.

The awards ceremony was held in the form of a press conference led by Svetlana Levina, an activist of the Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality, and Eric Kaufman, actor, singer and film critic who is a volunteer in the LGBT film festival Side by Side. On the eve of this year’s ceremony, which was held with the support of the Regional Press Institute, the Institute’s director Anna Sharogradskaya was pressured to cancel the LGBT event within the walls of the Institute. The ceremony did take place there in spite of all the obstacles.

Musical Armed Escort award
Winner: gay-bashing singer Valeria (Alla Yurievna Perfilova), who says homosexuality is a “biologically unjustified orientation.”

In the category “MuzKonvoi” [“Musical Armed Escort”] the booby-prize was awarded to the singer Valeria “for being perfectly in tune with the ruling regime.” She has spoken publicly in support of homophobic legislation, has argued that there is no prejudice against gays in Russia and that homosexuality is a “biologically unjustified orientation.” Nominees in this category included two homophobic Russian artists: Joseph Kobzon and the singer known as “Timati.”

Systemic Swinishness award
Winner: Children’s Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov, for repressive anti-gay procedures in child care

The Administration of the Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation (Children’s Ombudsman), Mr. Pavel Astakhov, was awarded a Golden Enema “for the introduction of repressive procedures in child care” in the “Systemic Swinishness” category. The nomination is open to official departments which systematically violate the rights of LGBT citizens. Mr. Astakhov’s office had rivals: the local office of the Federal Security Service for the Khabarovsk Region for inventing a “gay terrorist underground” and Roskomnadzor [the Russian telecommunications regulator] which works hand in hand with Mr. Astakhov’s office in persecuting the “Children-404” support project for LGBT teens.

Shame Without Borders award for Homophobic Pollution of the Planet
Winners: the Rev. Scott Lively of Massachusetts (who claims that being homosexual is worse than being a serial killer) and Pastor James David Manning of New York City  (who claims that the sperm of gay men is a “secret ingredient of Starbucks latte.”)

This is the first year in which a “Golden Enema” was open to an international category entitled “Shame Without Borders”. Contenders included foreign homophobic figures as Ms. Marine le Pen, leader of the French far right, and Mr. Tursunbay Bakir-uulu, a deputy in the Kyrgyz parliament, who has proposed a bill similar to the “Mizulina Law” against “gay propaganda.” But those personages were overtaken by two American homophobic preachers: Mr. Scott Lively and Mr. James David Manning. Their booby-prize was entitled “Homophobic Pollution of the Planet.” Mr. Lively is actively involved in promoting homophobia in Russia and elsewhere and has recently claimed that being a homosexual is worse than being a serial killer. His colleague Mr. Manning has claimed that the sperm of gay men is a “secret ingredient of Starbucks latte.”

Smell of Money award
Winner: Vladimir Yakunin, head of Russian Railways, who says that LGBT rights activists are “cultural mutants” who violate the rights of the majority.

In the business category entitled “The Smell of Money,” the winner was the head of the Russian Railways, Mr. Vladimir Yakunin, for his “In-depth Defence of a Civilisational Dead-end against Mainstream Cultural Evolution.” This man has called LGBT people fighting for their rights “cultural mutants” and accused them of violating the “rights of the majority.” In addition to that he has labelled Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst a “symbol of ethnofascism” and harbinger of the “rapid demise of Europe.” Mr. Yakunin’s rivals were Mr. Maxim Dolgopolov, St. Petersburg, who erected a monument to the iPhone and then destroyed it after Apple CEO Tim Cook had come out, and Mr. German Sterligov, who has uttered explicit calls for violence against LGBT people.

George Orwell Ministry of Truth Prize
Winners: TV journalist Valery Tatarov and TV executive Sergei Boyarsky for “regular live Five Minute LGBT Hate broadcasts”

This year the recurrent booby-prize for journalists was entitled “The George Orwell Ministry of Truth Prize” for which there were only two nominees (since all the Kremlin’s other propagandists were for most of the year fighting on the “Ukrainian Front”). The contenders were: St. Petersburg TV journalist Mr. Valery Tatarov and Mr. Sergei Boyarsky, who heads the TV channel “Saint Petersburg”, the award was made to them “for regular live Five Minute LGBT Hate broadcasts.” Mr. Tatarov is an on-the-air devotee of such phrases as “pederasts and degenerates” and never misses an opportunity to negatively comment on LGBT events in the city. Their rival was the TV channel “Russia-1”, whose recent edition of “Special Correspondent” was a clumsy homophobic fake.

Bad Case award for “recidivist homophobes”
Winner: Vitaly Milonov, author of St. Petersburg’s anti-“gay propaganda” law, which inspired the enactment of Russia’s national anti-“gay propaganda” law.

This year the “Golden Enema” awards received a special nomination for recidivist homophobes, intended for people who, year in year out, contaminate the social climate with their chronic homophobia. For these nominees we recommend urgent hospitalization. In this category, entitled “A Bad Case,” nominees included State Duma deputy Mr. Aleksey Zhuravlev and the journalist Mr. Arkady Mamontov. Nevertheless the winner was, of course, St. Petersburg deputy Mr. Vitaly Milonov, an author of the local legislation against “gay propaganda,” who was awarded a “Golden Enema” for his “indefatigable PR and tireless promotion of LGBT events in St. Petersburg.”

Dark Ages category

This year there was a special category entitled “The Dark Ages.” The rivals for the Grand Prix were not specific individuals but systemic phenomena, divided into three categories.

Hero of the Dark Ages award
Winner: St. Petersburg bureaucrat Irina Boitsova, who worked to dismiss a homosexual teacher on the basis of an anti-gay tip

Ms. Irina Boitsova, deputy chief of staff in the Kirov district of St. Petersburg, was awarded the Grand Prix entitled “Hero of the Dark Ages.” This is the first time that the booby-prize has gone not to a prominent politician but to a humble low-ranking bureaucrat. Ms. Boitsova deployed the resources of her administration to illegally dismiss a homosexual school-teacher, based on information from a “skunk-activist.” All over Russia, bureaucrats are letting themselves be guided by the principle of “just in case something happens,” thereby breaking the law and making the lives of their homosexual fellow-citizens more difficult.

Stink Parade award
Winners: Anti-gay activists who use foul-smelling gas, dyes and excrement to disrupt LGBT events

The second category, entitled “The Stink-Parade” refers to homophobes who can be recognised by a characteristic odour in the places which they frequent. Condoms filled with excrement beside the walls of the State Duma; false reports of explosives in certain premises; foul-smelling gas discharged at the opening of the QueerFest 2014 and in events forming part of the LGBT film festival Side by Side; the use of syringes to squirt corrosive fluids mixed with evil-smelling green dye at the faces and clothes of lawyers and human rights activists. This stench reflects the internal decay which affects individuals infected by hatred and aggression towards other people, feelings which the government has deliberately condoned instead of suppressing them.

Gangster Fascists award
Winner: An unnamed “infamous now imprisoned Russian neo-Nazi” [Maxim Martsinkevich] who organized and continues to spread anti-gay entrapment operations that involve blackmail, extortion and humiliation against LGBTI Russians.

Finally, the third category is entitled “gangster-fascists,” a term which covers followers of an infamous now imprisoned Russian neo-Nazi, who take a delight in mocking others with impunity and profiting from their misfortune. Having received from the state a de facto license for their criminal activities, they are organising – all over Russia – hundreds of “entrapment operations” in which they lure homosexuals into their networks by subterfuge, humiliate them in various adept ways, shoot videos, extort money and valuables, and blackmail them. Sometimes these “executions” are made public and the victims find that their life is ruined. They have a nervous breakdown, or even commit suicide. All those activities increase the number of victims of homophobic violence.

Concluding the ceremony, the presenters observed that it would be desirable if, one day, the “Golden Enema” awards were not needed — for lack of nominees. But those thoughts are the stuff of dreams, which means that after another year the “Golden Enemas” will be with you again.

Related articles

• Archive of this blog’s articles about Russia
• Articles about the Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality:
  • Russian police spy on LGBT activists, arrest 14 (76crimes.com)
  • St. Petersburg joins world protests for LGBT rights (76crimes.com)

Online contacts

• The Golden Enema Facebook page — https://www.facebook.com/golden.klizma (mostly in Russian)
• Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality — https://vk.com/straights_for_equality (in Russian)
• Straight Alliance for LGBT Equality on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/straights.for.equality (mostly in Russian)