Anton Krasovsky

Anton Vyacheslavovich Krasovsky (Russian: Антóн Вячеслáвович Красóвский) (born 18 July 1975) is a Russian political journalist, television personality and gay rights activist.

Life and career

Krasovsky was born on 18 July 1975 in Podolsk and studied at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute.[1] In 2011 Krasovsky participated in the presidential campaign of Mikhail Prokhorov.[2] He also worked as a journalist and editor at the pro-Kremlin[3] NTV channel.[4] He also worked at Kommersant, Yandex, Nezavisimaya Gazeta and Vogue, and other publications.[5]

Krasovsky later began work at another pro-Kremlin[3] channel, Kontr TV, started by himself and Sergey Minaev in December 2012.[6] On 25 January 2013, during a discussion of a proposed national ban on "homosexual propaganda", Krasovsky revealed his homosexuality, stating on-air, "I'm gay and I'm as much a human-being as Putin and Medvedev." (Russian: Я гей и такой же человек, как Путин и Медведев.)[6] His statement was not made available online or was deleted soon afterwards,[4][7] and on 28 January Krasovsky resigned from the channel and denounced the working environment there.[6][8] According to other sources, he was fired the same day.[9] His face was soon censored from the show website and removed from the TV show's archives.[7]

Krasovsky stated that he came out because he had enough feeling like a hypocrite.[6] He later referred to the channel's entire output as "propaganda."[10] In May, following the murder of Vlad Tornovy reportedly because he was thought to be gay,[11] Krasovsky published an article in The Guardian denouncing homophobia in Russia. He wrote:[12]

How did it come about that today in Russia a good gay person is a dead gay person? How did there come to be a law in the Duma that forbids justifying homosexuality? Until now, the only thing you were forbidden to justify in my country was terrorism.... So as far as the deputies are concerned I am not a human being in the same sense that they are; I am to be classed as scum, like a terrorist. As far as the deputies are concerned I am scum by the fact of my birth, and it was criminal negligence not to have made a note of that in my birth certificate. What seemed like a bad dream only a couple of years ago has now become reality. And it is terrifying to imagine what could happen tomorrow.

Krasovsky spoke out in August 2013 against the boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia that some gay rights activists proposed. He said: "If you want to boycott Olympic games in Russia, you're trying to boycott 7 million gay people in Russia. You want to boycott me."[7] He is interviewed about his experiences in the 2014 documentary film Campaign of Hate: Russia and Gay Propaganda.[13]

In July 2016, Anton Krasovsky and the head of the outpatient department of the Moscow Regional AIDS Center Elena Orlova-Morozova established The Foundation in support of people who live with HIV — AIDS.Center.[14]

In December 2017, Krasovsky revealed that he has been HIV positive since 2011.[15]

References
  1. Антон Красовский – Про меня [Anton Krasovsky - About me]. Snob.ru. 1 August 2013. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  2. "Prokhorov's campaign to be run by journalist Anton Krasovsky". Kyiv Post. Interfax-Ukraine. 29 December 2011. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  3. "Anton Krasovsky | The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. "The Courage Required To Come Out in Putin's Russia - All News Is Global". Worldcrunch.com. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  5. "Following Paul Pubic NTV went with Anton Krasovsky". News-su.1gb.ru. 17 January 2012. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  6. Kseniya Sokolova (2 June 2013). "Anton Krasovsky: I'm gay, and I'm a human being just like president Putin". Snob.ru. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  7. "Anton Krasovsky, Russian TV Presenter Sacked After Coming Out As Gay on Air". The Huffington Post. 15 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  8. Антон Красовский покинул канал Kontr TV [Anton Krasovsky have left Kontr TV channel]. Lenta.ru. 28 January 2013. Archived from the original on 18 August 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  9. "Russian anchor fired after coming out on live TV". CBS News. 14 August 2013. Archived from the original on 18 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  10. Kseniya Sokolova (2 June 2013). Антон Красовский: Я гей, и я такой же человек, как президент Путин [I'm gay, and I am as human as President Putin]. Snob.ru. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  11. "Arrests over 'anti-gay' murder in Volgograd Russia". BBC News. 13 May 2013. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  12. "I came out because gay people in Russia are suffering – it's time for courage". The Guardian. 14 May 2013. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  13. "Russia's Deadly Campaign". Out. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  14. Yesenia Martynova (6 October 2016). "Фонд "СПИД.ЦЕНТР" просит о финансовой помощи" [AIDS.Center Foundation asks for financial help] (in Russian). New Izvestia. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  15. "Журналист Антон Красовский рассказал о своем положительном ВИЧ-статусе". Izvestia (in Russian). 5 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
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