Russia cuts off internet access to Rainbow Railroad

[unicorn]

Putin has cut off internet access to Rainbow Railroad, an organization which helps members of the LGBTQ+ community in hostile countries (such as Russia, obviously) leave the country and get asylum elsewhere (most commonly Canada):

https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/the-latest/russia-blocks-rainbow-railroads-website-cutting-off-a-critical-lifeline-for-lgbtqi-people

This is an organization I fully support, and also has the full backing of charitynavigator.org as an honest and efficient charity. Hopefully they can at least access the website with a VPN? I don't know if the government has a way of punishing those who access the website via VPN?

[vinapu]

Moses will find some way to go around that obstacle

[Moses]

6 hours ago, unicorn said:

off internet access to Rainbow Railroad

They are clowns.

There's so much pathos and feigned tragedy in their message – they're deeply worried that they won't be able to receive grants and milk sponsors anymore under the pretext of "evil Russia"...

The figures for the number of "saved" Russians are especially amusing...  Actually, leaving the country is free – you can go wherever you want, to France, to Argentina, to the USA, you know?

The problem for Russian gay people who want to leave Russia is not that they are prevented from leaving the country, but that they are not allowed into the countries they want to go to, and these clowns from RR can't help with that.

So, if you worry about "poor Russian gays" you should call to your senator and to ask lift visa restrictions.

6 hours ago, unicorn said:

I don't know if the government has a way of punishing those who access the website via VPN?

No. Anyone may use VPN. I do as well for to see websites which block connection from Russia (once again: blocking is going by foreign websites, not by Russian telecom). Also VPN is good against filtering: for example if you are from EU, then Twitter will block porn for you unless you will deanonymize yourself.

While "from US":

 

So under one of my VPN I pretend to be from US, by another one  - '"from NL", third one shows me from Singapore. Under last two I'm from Turkey or Mumbai - under these VPNs I have best prices for airlines, hotels and videogames.

[Moses]

Oh, I forgot to add: of course Russia blocks some sites around the world. For example since time when EU started to block RT and Sputnik, Russia started to block BBC and EuroNews.

Russia keeps to mirror "unfriendly actions": when Latvia blocks ~415 Russian websites, Russia also blocks +/- the same amount., when Estonia blocks around 300 Russian websites, Russia does the same with Estonian sites.

[vinapu]

2 minutes ago, Moses said:

Oh, I forgot to add: of course Russia blocks some sites around the world. For example since time since time when EU started to block RT and Sputnik, Russia started to block BBC and EuroNews.

fair exchange

[unicorn]

2 hours ago, Moses said:

...

The problem for Russian gay people who want to leave Russia is not that they are prevented from leaving the country, but that they are not allowed into the countries they want to go to, and these clowns from RR can't help with that.

...

There's more to getting asylum than getting a tourist visa. RR not only helps foreigners get the right visas (say, to Canada), but also helps support them once they're safe on Canadian (or other) soil, with housing, job assistance, and so on.

[PeterRS]

I'm always curous! Although I have had some not pleasant ding-dongs with @Moses (partly my fault, I admit), I would appreciate his advice if he wishes to give it.

I haven't been to Moscow since 2011. As mentioned in a thread yesterday, for part of that visit I was at a Conference and we were housed at the lovely Swissotel. It has a circular bar at the top from which you can see many of the city's landmarks. On two evenings, three colleagues and I (all but one gay) spent quite lovely evenings in that bar. Our waiter was a beautiful slim Russian named Pavel and it seemed he twigged quite quickly that we were a gayish crowd. We particularly enjoyed watching the antics of the young barmen who were all equally handsome and superb at their job. Pavel told us that all were from another country which I cannot now remember and one had won a bartenders' prize at some quite major competition.

Watching these guys go about their work made us all think some - quite a few, in fact - were probably gay. Is that likely to be true, or is it more likely they were adopting certain western mannerisms only to make us think that?

Two years later, I was with a friend in St. Petersburg - fabulous city! En route to Catherine's Palace, we noticed a lot of young guys probably in the 17-20 age range. We later realised there was a stop at a nearby Technical College. They were laughing and having a good time. Two even stood up to give us their seats (both of us having grey hair - but in 25 years of living in Bangkok this has happened to me only twice!) Although my companion on that trip was a lady, two of the students seemed - and perhaps this was merely wishful thinking - to be looking at me rather intently. When they left the carriage, both looked round at me. The impression I had was that both might have been gay.

On that trip we had got an amazing deal at a 5-star hotel on Nevsky Prospekt. Serving in the Executive Lounge was a gorgeous looking young man who told me he was 18 and only worked part-time to save up for a laptop computer. His English was amazingly good and I spent an entire afternoon just chatting with him - and also admiring his uniform which had rather tight-fitting pants! He gave me an idea of some places to visit which are not on the usual itineraries, one of which was just a rather lovely park. I had visions of his being gay and spending a night in my large room, but of course that would have been totally out of the question. I never even found out if he was gay. Probably not, but I made sure he had a handsome tip to put towards the purchase of his computer!

So my question is: is it usual for young gay men to be attracted to service jobs in Russia?

[Moses]

3 hours ago, PeterRS said:

is it usual for young gay men to be attracted to service jobs in Russia?

It is not.

However, because gay men in their youth have more free time due to social homophobia, while their classmates are chasing girls during puberty, they generally achieve higher exam scores in school (the number of universities a high school graduate can apply to depends on their final exam scores).
Therefore, the number of gay men in factories is low, while there are noticeably more of them in offices, private companies in managerial positions, and in government service.

And in the service industries of large Russian cities, there are many gay migrants: young men who have left small towns and villages in Russia and from countries of the former USSR due well known countryside homophobia in such small places, primarily from Belarus and Ukraine, due to their excellent Russian language skills. The service industry has the greatest need for labor, so it's easiest to get a job there – primarily as bartenders and waiters. Such jobs are available from the age of 16 (with parental permission, they can work up to 6 hours a day) and do not require special education or skills – they are trained on the job. And part-time workers are very welcome in services.