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Topics: Sport, LGBTQ, TV And Film
Rhianna Benson
Russian fans of Heated Rivalry have reportedly been caught breaking the country's homophobic censorship laws in a bid to get their fix of the steamy same-sex drama.
For those unfamiliar with the Canadian limited series, it's based on Rachel Reid's best-selling book Game Changes, and centres on rival men's professional hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.
The former plays for Canada's Montreal Metros, whilst the latter hails from Russia but represents the Boston Raiders.
As far as the public knows, they've been embroiled in a bitter feud for years. Behind the scenes, however, Shane and Ilya have been enjoying a passionate love affair behind their coaches' backs.
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The much-loved 'enemies-to-lovers' trope immediately sent the series viral, much to the dismay of the Russian authorities.
A ban was first placed on LGBTQ+ television and film content by the Russian Federation back in 2013, whose leaders claimed it would help to 'protect' the country's children. The disallowing of such material was expanded nine years later to cover all age groups, with the Supreme Court describing pro-LGBTQ+ groups as 'extremist organisations'.
This ruling was made in spite of the majority of Russians under the age of 25 - 55 per cent, to be exact - claiming in a poll (cited by Feminist) that they supported same-sex marriage and equal rights for clear people.
Anyone caught sharing, engaging or promoting television content that hinged on these themes, however, was told they were at risk of receiving fines of up to 400,000 rubles.
This threat applied to Russian Telegram channels that, despite boasting over 34,000 subscribers, have received charges for violating the country's anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, some organisations for as much as 5 million rubles.
According to Pink News, however, such punishments are yet to dissuade a number of die-hard fans of the show, who have continued to resort to illegal online streamers to access the series in spite of Heated Rivalry's nationwide ban.
The Prosecutor General’s Office and Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor were both called upon last month by members of the Russian Orthodox Christian organisation, Sorok Sorokov, who demanded it be pulled from local streaming services.
Georgy Soldatov, the firm's spokesperson, told Abzats Media at the time: "Heated Rivalry is a Canadian series where the main characters openly propagate pederasty. It’s hard to imagine how it was released on Russian online platforms."
"The series is full of sodomite sex scenes. Russia already has a mortality rate higher than its birth rate, and yet we allow our youth to be shown propaganda of unnatural debauchery."