A Russian news anchor said that he was fired right after he announced on live television that he is gay.
Anton Krasovsky was a news editor for Kontr TV, a Kremlin supported news station. A few months ago, he surprised his audience and even his producers by saying that he is gay, reports CBS News.
This is just being reported internationally now because Snob.ru sat down with Krasovsky to recount the incident. There is no video of it on the Internet because it has been removed.
“I'm gay, and I'm just the same person as you, my dear audience, as President Putin, as Prime Minister Medvedev and the deputies of our Duma,” Krasovsky recalled saying when he spoke with Snob.ru.
Krasovsky also spoke with CNN and confirmed that he was fired the same night that he made the announcement.
He said that he made the decision hours before the broadcast because he said he had to tell his audience while covering LGBT affairs in Russia.
“Because I felt like a hypocrite, and hypocrisy is what I hate the most about people,” he explained to Snob.ru. “The meaning of this whole story we are discussing now is that throughout my whole life I've been struggling with myself. And this - as you call it - coming out is just another battle with myself, with my own hypocrisy, my own lies and my own cowardice.”
He had also voiced support for the LGBT community in an oped for The Guardian in May.
Russia’s new law against public support for gay rights has come under increased scrutiny as the country prepares to host more international events, including the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi. Today, Bravo’s Andy Cohen made headlines by declining to host the 2013 Miss Universe Competition in Russia because of the law.