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Gay & Under Attack

Reggie Yates' Extreme Russia
Episode 2 of 3

Reggie Yates finds out what life is like for young people in what has been described as the hardest place in Europe to be gay, after the introduction of the anti-propaganda law.

Reggie Yates gets up close and personal with three very different communities in contemporary Russia. By living with them for a week, he explores what it's like for young people living here, 24 years after the fall of the Soviet Union.

A year after the introduction of the controversial anti-propaganda law, Reggie finds out what life is really like for young people in what has been described as the hardest place in Europe to be gay. He travels to St Petersburg for Queerfest, a ten-day arts and culture get-together for the LGBT community. Reggie spends time on both sides of the battle lines - with the Queerfest team as they face the daily fight to keep their festival open, and the homophobes who want to see it closed.

He also meets Dayra, a young lesbian viciously stabbed and left for dead by homophobes, and activist Kiril who is still fighting back and who shows Reggie how Putin's repressive laws make it almost impossible to protest without risk of arrest. Ivan and Nusrulla are a young gay couple very much in love, but who are so scared of the consequences of coming out that they have made up a pretend girlfriend - and have a huge decision to make about their future.

On the other side, Reggie meets leaders of Orthodox pressure groups like God's Will, who would stone gays to death if the law allowed it, and Vitali Milonov, the architect of the anti-gay propaganda law. Reggie ends up in a sauna, being beaten with twigs by a naked man, in a bid to understand what it means to be not just Russian in this post-Soviet era, but what it means to be a Russian man.

1 hour

Last on

Wed 4 Sep 2019 00:40
BBC One Northern Ireland & Northern Ireland HD only

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Clip

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:08

    Leningrad

    Supergood

  • 00:24

    James Bay

    Hold Back The River

  • 00:56

    Hozier

    Angel Of Small Death & The Codeine Scene

Credits

Presenter Reggie Yates
Director Sam Wilkinson
Series Producer Wendie Ottewill
Production Company Sundog Pictures

Broadcasts

  • Mon 20 Apr 2015 21:00
    BBC Three
  • Tue 21 Apr 2015 00:30
    BBC Three
  • Tue 21 Apr 2015 03:00
    BBC Three
  • Tue 21 Apr 2015 20:00
    BBC Three
  • Wed 22 Apr 2015 02:00
    BBC Three
  • Wed 22 Apr 2015 22:00
    BBC Three
  • Thu 23 Apr 2015 03:00
    BBC Three
  • Fri 24 Apr 2015 01:30
    BBC Three
  • Wed 17 Jun 2015 03:00
    BBC Three
  • Thu 30 Jul 2015 22:35
    BBC One except Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland HD, Wales & Wales HD
  • Thu 30 Jul 2015 23:20
    BBC One Wales HD & Wales only
  • Thu 30 Jul 2015 23:35
    BBC One Northern Ireland HD & Northern Ireland only
  • Fri 23 Oct 2015 21:00
    BBC Three
  • Sat 24 Oct 2015 03:00
    BBC Three
  • Sun 8 Jul 2018 23:30
    BBC One
  • Tue 3 Sep 2019 23:35
    BBC One except Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland HD, Scotland & Scotland HD
  • Wed 4 Sep 2019 00:35
    BBC One Scotland & Scotland HD only
  • Wed 4 Sep 2019 00:40
    BBC One Northern Ireland & Northern Ireland HD only

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