World Cup 2018: Activists in Moscow create Pride flag with football shirts to let Russian LGBT community know ‘they’re not alone’

Six LGBT activists donned football strips from their home country to recreate the Pride flag
The group travelled to Moscow on June 28
Lola & Sarah
Olivia Tobin11 July 2018

Six LGBT activists have created a hidden Pride flag in Moscow to let the Russian LGBT community know “they are not alone”, an activist has said.

In an act of solidarity, six people have donned football strips from their country to recreate the famous LGBT colours and posed for photos across the city during the World Cup.

It is currently illegal to display the rainbow pride flag in Russia , so the activists wanted to create a way where the colours were still seen in everyday locations.

One of the activists, Eloi Junior, from Brazil, said: “I think it’s very important because Russia is a country where the gay community is very repressed and there’s a lot of violence [towards them].

“We wanted to make a special message that they are not alone. We wanted to raise the flag, and we’re so happy because it’s [the protest] is getting so huge.”

The group first met when they arrived to Moscow (Lola & Sarah)
Lola & Sarah

The 32-year-old explained that the idea came from a Spanish digital agency team, Lola, who teamed up with a Spanish LGBT organisation FELGTB to find people from each country to recreate the colours.

Eloi said it was quite hard to find representatives from Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia to carry out the demonstration, but only took ten days to get enough people.

And when the group arrived to Moscow, that was the first time they all met.

The group posed in everyday locations (Lola & Sarah)
Lola & Sarah

He added he became involved because he “wanted to do something big”, despite his family’s reservations about his safety.

He said: “My mother and partner were very nervous about it. They knew I was going to go, though.

“I just wanted to raise the dialogue to help the people from that country.”

Eloi said he was nervous before he travelled to Moscow (Lola & Sarah)
Lola & Sarah

While the group were out there, Eloi said they fortunately received no threats of violence or harm because passers-by just thought they were a group of football fans.

The protest has been positively praised on Twitter, with many praising the courage the group had.

Eloi said: “I’m feeling so happy [about the reaction]. We’ve been receiving messages from gay people in Russia thanking us. I’ve got very emotional about it.

“I knew it was going to be big, I had that feeling, but I had no idea it would be so huge as it is.”

Londoner and musician Loyle Carner called the demonstration “perfect” on Twitter.

Another positive tweet said the protest was a “great idea”. One user said: “what a great idea. Way to go! Everyone has the right to love whom ever they choose. #LoveisLove #HiddenFlag.”

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