Denis Leontovich. Photo: social media
A former official from the city of Samara in Russia’s Volga region who was forced to resign in April after being outed as gay has broken his silence on the incident in a social media post he made from exile.
Denis Leontovich, 23, left Russia for his own safety after receiving multiple threats, having become the focus of a homophobic campaign spearheaded by Samara State Duma Deputy Alexander Khinshtein.
“For six months now, I have been forced to rebuild my life in other countries and cities. To the state, I am an extremist, a traitor and a criminal, just because I was born gay. For that, you can face public persecution, be sacked or threatened with ... prison,” Leontovich wrote.
Khinshtein began a campaign of outing Samara officials six months ago, making numerous allegations that multiple officials had been responsible for disseminating so-called “LGBT propaganda”, which is illegal in Russia.
To document his claims, Khinshtein published private photographs from what he claimed was Leontovich’s “gay wedding”, accusing him of creating “propaganda for same-sex love”.
In April Khinshtein also publicly accused regional Youth Policy Minister Sergey Burtsev of being in a same-sex relationship, something Burtsev denied, though he resigned from his position shortly afterwards.
Leontovich said he had not “promoted anything, because it’s impossible to impose a sexual orientation on anyone”. His post also accused Vladimir Putin of starting a war with Ukraine, and the Russian military of killing civilians.
Samara Governor Dmitry Azarov resigned his post in May following Khinshtein’s “LGBT propaganda” accusations and the arrest of several senior members of his administration on suspicion of corruption.
