Russia: Suit against LGBT rights group blocked

NBC News reported on February 11 that a court in St. Petersburg has decided not to act on a lawsuit filed by Russia's Ministry of Justice against the Russian LGBT Network. The suit accused the country's largest and most prominent LGBT rights group of spreading "LGBT views" and going against the "fundamental family values enshrined in the Russian constitution," and called for the "liquidation" of its parent legal group, the Sphere Foundation.

The court's decision is "good news for the immediate future," said Tanya Lokshina, associate director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "Their first step failed, but I don't think they're going to give up, because what happened is in sync with the ongoing, very disturbing trend of stifling independent voices in Russia."

Sphere Foundation spokesperson Dilya Gafurova told NBC News, "We refuse to give up and let the government shut us down; we refuse to agree that the very activity of helping LGBT+ people does not correspond to the idea of 'charity,' as is stated in [the Defense Ministry's] claim."

China: Fans of Friends decry censorship

Reuters reported February 13 on the response of Chinese fans of the US sitcom Friends, after the show's re-release on several Chinese streaming sites was censored to exclude LGBT issues; it also had several mistranslations. A conversation about Ross's wife being Lesbian was deleted, and another about going to a "strip joint" was translated as "going out to play."

Fans expressed their outrage on Weibo, which is similar to Twitter. "I resolutely boycott the castrated version of Friends," said one user.

"This is defiling a classic," said another.

Soon after the topic started trending, searches on Weibo for '#Friendshasbeencensored' and its variations began to produce zero or limited results, suggesting the discussion itself may have also been censored, as part of China's broader efforts over the last few years to stifle anything LGBT in the media.