I remember the day I came home from school and asked my mum if something I’d been taught that day could really be true. The subject was the holocaust and my sense of shock at humanity’s ability to produce such horror rocked my teenage soul. And here we are years later and the horror of the needless degradation, torture and killing of people just because of a belief, sexuality or way of living is still with us. Chechyna’s brutal treatment of gay men is a reminder that we still have so much to fight against. That we must stand united in the face of such terror. They said after the holocaust and the murder of millions “never again”. Well “again” has returned and we must stand together to ensure this 21st century horror stops.

Between 1933-1945 approximately 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality in Nazi Germany, half of whom were imprisoned. An estimated 10,000 – 15,000 were sent to concentration camps, and by 1945 only 4,000 survived. 72 years later and hundreds of gay men are still being imprisoned today in Chechnya, Russia. LGBT people in Chechnya continue to suffer forced detention, torture and even murder by the Chechen state, all on the basis of their sexuality.

Chechyna Fundraiser: The People’s Film Club presents Paragraph 175. Thursday 1st June 18:30 Dukes at Komedia. More info and tickets here  ALL profits will be donated to the Russian LGBT network.