A Russian website has popped up in response to Airbnb’s anti-discrimination policy prohibiting banning people based on their sexual orientation, and it promises to tell visitors how many gay people reside in any given city.
Travel site MyLinker started GayLocator because, as representative Rodion Kadyrov explained in an interview with Russian tabloid Life, they believe it should be everyone’s personal choice whom they allow to stay in their home.
Related: Putin Claims Russia Has No Issue With Gay People, You’re Nuts For Thinking So
“To deny gay people – it’s fine if we’re talking about freedom of choice,” he said.
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“It’s simple. Airbnb’s position on this issue was not close to us,” he continued. “We started thinking about this and somehow came to the idea – to find out how many actually gay lives in every city in Russia, and conducted research.”
That research, according to Global Voices, was less than scientifically rigorous.
“The website’s questionable methodology for ‘measuring gays’ relies on tracking the number of online requests for pornography in a city and compares it to the number of Internet searches for gay porn, and then applies the differential to the city’s total population and ‘calculates’ the LGBT population,” they report.
They then walk through what a user might experience.
“In Moscow, for example, the website says there are ‘173,851 gays,’ and warns visitors, ‘Oh my! That’s a lot of gays! Danger!’ while offering help in ‘fending off the gays.’
Related: Russian Embassy Taunts Westerners As ‘Gay Pigs’
“Scrolling further, visitors…are told that ‘AirBnb cleaned up and deleted all the owners who refused to rent to homosexuals,’ before getting the sales pitch: the homophobes re-registered with MyLinker, the website claims.
“You probably don’t want to cradle your child in a bed where a bunch of gays were just frolicking about.”
Some LGBTQ advocates in Russia are reportedly using the numbers to brag about their prevalence in the country. Kadyrov explains that their site should not be read as a promotion of the existence of homosexuality.
“The promotion of homosexuality? I do not think,” he told Life. “We definitely did not have such a goal. Everyone decides for himself – to be gay or not (as would be unfortunate as it sounds), but we still are not for them. Infringes on the rights and break the law we do not want. We caution that the study results are exploratory in nature, the service is only available for persons older than 18 years.”
A “gay propaganda law” passed in 2013 makes it a crime to provide information about homosexuality to a minor.
Related: What It’s Like To Be Young And Gay In Russia
h/t: LGBTQNation
Hussain-TheCanadian
The big Russian Bear is a bit sensitive isn’t she?? Small hands syndrome?
So Moscow is a “gay city” now? DOES THAT MEAN the Kremlin is going to move to the ‘least gay city” in Russia? Somewhere in Siberia maybe?
OzJosh
Comedy gold. SNL could turn this into a sketch without changing a word.
Chris
Where is SNL’s Steffan when we need him to tell us what’s happening in each of those cities?
GayEGO
I can see a huge number of tourists flocking to the most gay Russian cities who will make more money. Those less gay popular cities will lose money and then those cities will squawk about it!
Tête Carrée
Who the f*ck would go there anyway? They sound as stupid as they are reputed to be.
eightinchnail
I’m quite sure America is headed in the same direction under Dimwit Donald.