With the United States Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage throughout the country, social media blew up with supportive rainbow flags and icons. Businesses, media outlets, and plenty of private individuals wanting to fortify the landmark decision turned Twitter and Facebook into much more colorful places by including rainbow flags in their profile photos.
The exact opposite is happening in Russia.
The country operates under famously anti-gay legislation. Homosexual citizens are welcome to privately engage in their lifestyle, but they are prohibited from talking about it or doing anything that could be interpreted as promoting it. To do so is deemed “propaganda” and is illegal. As such, Vitaly Milonov, Russian lawmaker and co-creator of the gay propaganda law, has already moved to block Facebook from the Russian Internet for “promoting” the homosexual lifestyle with the flag generator.
Upon seeing the success of Facebook’s rainbow-making app, a Russian graphic designer named Oleg Chulakov released his own app to layer the Russian flag over social media profile pictures. It’s called “Love for the Motherland.”
Screenshot
While it was not created as a measure of protest, it has since become one. Some conservative Russians are using Chulakov’s tool to demonstrate nationalism while offsetting the prevalence of Facebook’s rainbow flags. These users may tweet their photos with hashtags like #pridetobestraight and #proudtoberussian.
https://twitter.com/kazan_life/status/615243831362109441
#pridetobestraight #pridetoberussian #гордбытьнатуралом #гордбытьрусским. pic.twitter.com/6OtIzQQnJp
— Кривенков Максим (@krivenkov_maxim) June 28, 2015
At least one Twitter user, however, is reverse-trolling everyone with Chulakov’s app. It’s masterful:
here’s to you, #pridetoberussian movement! #pridetobestraight #pride #equality pic.twitter.com/LSMSsUA7VT
— Astôn Matters (@astonmatters) June 30, 2015
H/T i100 | Photo via Krivenkoff_Live/Twitter
