A Russian television network kicked reporter James Kirchick off the air Wednesday for using this live TV moment for to criticize the country’s new anti-gay laws.
The American journalist was booked on RT, a government-funded station, to talk about the Bradley Manning verdict and sentencing. Instead, he hijacked the segment to speak out against the increasing climate of violence against homosexuals and LGBT supporters.
“Being here in a Kremlin-funded propaganda network, I’m going to wear my gay pride suspenders, and I am going to speak out against the horrific anti-gay legislation that Vladimir Putin has signed into law. That was passed unanimously by the Russian Duma. That criminalizes homosexual propaganda, that effectively makes it illegal to talk about homosexuality in public,” he began.
The anchorwoman tried to get the conversation back on topic, saying, “Of course, we’ll discuss it later, but what about Bradley Manning first?”
“I’m not really interested in talking about Bradley Manning,” Kirchick said. “I’m interested in talking about the horrific environment of homophobia in Russia right now and, and to let the Russian gay people know they have friends and allies and solidarity from people all over the world and that we’re not going to be silenced in the face of this horrific oppression” by their “pay masters” and “by Vladimir Putin.”








