Daria Kasatkina has been a prominent figure in Russian tennis for years.
The 26-year-old has been ranked as high as eighth in the world, reached the semi-finals of the 2022 French Open and has won six WTA titles. She was also part of the team that won the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup title, winning her singles match in the final. During the same year, she was also the first home player to win the St Petersburg Open.
Kasatkina is also openly gay which is rare for a Russian athlete due to the authorities in the country who have in force rules prohibiting pro-LGBT gestures. The strictness of these laws has intensified so much in recent months that those working in the media now have to be cautious when covering her.
The Professor
Alexander Kondakov is an assistant professor at the School of Sociology, University College Dublin, Ireland. Kondarov has extensively covered the case of LGBT issues in Russia with one of his publications finding that 297 people between 2011 and 2016 were victims of a hate crime based on their sexuality with 122 of those being killed. It is important to note that there is no official count kept by authorities and his findings don’t include Chechnya’s alleged purge of gay people. He Is also the author of the book, Violent Affections: Queer sexuality, techniques of power, and law in Russia.
To understand the predicament Kasatkina is in, you have to look at what has happened over the past decade in her home country. In 2013 Russia banned the “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships and (or) preferences and propaganda of sex change” to minors before expanding that ruling to the adult population in 2022. So for example, a TV channel would be liable for a fine if they broadcast a programme showing a same-sex kiss. However, President Vladamir Putin has intensified his anti-LGBT law significantly within the past couple of weeks following a high court ruling.
“It’s a Supreme Court ruling to regard the international LGBT movement as an extremist organization. This is done in response to the Ministry of Justice’s request. This means that the ministry is interested in applying this definition in its everyday work,” Kondakov explained to Ubitennis.
“The court’s ruling relates to a much more dangerous law than the gay propaganda; it is the law on extremism. If gay propaganda is just an administrative regulation aiming at censorship of information, the extremism law is a criminal statute. This criminal law applies to people who can be arrested for contributing to the dealings of any extremist movement by, for example, arguing for the rights of people associated with the movement.’
“The fact that the international LGBT movement does not actually exist makes it even more dangerous because anything can be considered an international LGBT movement in this case.”
The journalist
Embed from Getty ImagesIt is the ambiguity that is perhaps the most difficult. For example, during Kasatkina’s 2022 interview with blogger Vitya Kravchenko when she publicly came out as gay, she touched on the subject of being LGBT in Russia.
“This notion of someone wanting to be gay or becoming [gay] is ridiculous. I think there is nothing easier in this world than being straight. Seriously, if there is a choice, no one would choose being gay. Why make your life harder, especially in Russia? What’s the point?” She said.
Under the new law, would a journalist in Russia be able to report this without any repercussions or could they be accused of promoting the so-called LGBT movement in some way?
One journalist working for a major sporting publication in Russia has agreed to speak to Ubitennis but on the condition of anonymity due to the nature of the topic. This person will be referred to as A in this article. Whilst Kasatkina is not defined by her sexuality, she and her girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako run a popular video blog that provides plenty of newsworthy articles. The two also post pictures of them together on social media.
“On the 30th of November, Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that the “international LGBT movement” is an “extremist organization,” jeopardizing all forms of LGBT rights activism. Under Russian criminal law, participating in or financing an extremist organization is punishable by up to 12 years in prison. That’s why due to the new terrible law, now it’s risky for journalists to write anything about Kasatkina’s sexuality or relationship with Natalia Zabiyako in Russian media.” A told Ubitennis.
“I’m working for a big Russian Sports website and we can only talk about her in the context of tennis. It’s very hard sometimes to write ONLY tennis articles because there are lots of different themes that touch on the topic of sexuality. And, unfortunately, as a journalist, I don’t feel freedom of speech. My colleagues also say that definitions of the new law are vague and indistinct, and enable the government to use them against anyone it dislikes.”
Sports.ru is one of Russia’s biggest sports websites with a following of more than 666,000 people on the social media platform VK. They used to have a tag ‘ЛГБТ’ (LGBT) on their website where users can click on it to bring up stories related to that topic. Shortly after the latest anti-LGBT ruling came into effect, that tag vanished.
There is also the question of what happens in the worst-case scenario. Say Kasatkina is for some reason found guilty of breaking this LGBT movement ban, how would it affect her tennis career? Would this exclude her from receiving awards or funding from her home country?
“If we speak about her possible deprivation of the state awards or being ineligible to receive such honors in the future because of breaking the ban on LGBT propaganda, it’s better to ask Russian sports functioners (organizers) to comment on this topic cause these decisions are the responsibility of Russian sports officials and government,” A commented.
“For quite some time now, the Russian government has used the extremism law in its crackdown on political opponents. I suppose this is how the law will expand its application in relation to the LGBT community.”
How Russia is using the law
Embed from Getty ImagesSo how is the law banning LGBT propaganda being implemented? There have been two notable examples with one of those involving Google. In December a court issued them with a fine of 4.6 billion rubles, or over $50 million, for refusing to remove what they claim is “disinformation” about the Ukraine war and hosting LGBTQ content on YouTube—which Russia now brands as “extremist.” RIA Novosti, which is owned by the state, reported that videos on YouTube (which Google owns) “spread LGBT values” and sought to convince “minors to commit illegal actions.”
Meanwhile, an ‘almost naked party’ held by a high-profile celebrity promoted backlash from conservatives in Russia and many attendees have since issued public apologies. Rapper Vacio was jailed for 15 days after a court ruled that he ‘violated public order, used crude obscene language and distributed publications in telegram channels aimed at promoting non-traditional sexual relationships.’ He was also fined 200,000 rubles ($2,171) for “gay propaganda.” 15 days have passed since the sentence but he received another 10-day jail term for alleged ‘disorderly conduct.’
Kasatkina has plenty of support
Representing a country that deems your sexuality as inferior to heterosexuality is something that has never seemed to bother Kasatkina. She continues to express herself how she wants and there has been minimal backlash from those involved in Russian tennis. However, few speak about LGBT topics in the mass media unless they are asked to do so by those outside of Russia.
“I’m not used to it because I’m from somewhere where, it’s, you know, not a very nice thing,” Kasatkina told Eurosport of what it was like celebrating Pride month during the 2023 French Open.
“In Europe, I feel like it’s something bigger. I think it’s important to let people know we’re all equal and all the same. There’s no difference.”
Kasatkina began her 2024 season at the Brisbane International where she reached the quarter-finals before losing to world No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
