The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, is projecting a message in
Helsinki – site of the Trump-Putin summit – calling on President
Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to investigate LGBT
persecution in Chechnya.
HRC's message was projected onto the
side of the presidential palace where the delegations and press corps
are gathering for Monday's summit.
The scrolling message reads: “Trump
and Putin: Stop the Crimes Against Humanity in Chechnya. Investigate
LGBTQ Persecution in Chechnya. Bring the Perpetrators to Justice. The
Whole World is Watching. Silence is Deadly. #EyesOnChechnya.”
In a statement, HRC said that Trump and
Putin were ignoring the issue.
“For more than 15 months, Donald
Trump and his administration have refused to publicly condemn the
systematic torture, abuse, and murder of LGBTQ people occurring in
Chechnya as Vladimir Putin has licensed the violence to continue.
More than a 100 LGBTQ people have been rounded up, tortured, and
abused – and as many as 20 have been murdered,” the group said.
Last year, reports surfaced that
Chechnya, a Muslim-majority republic in Russia, was torturing and
killing men suspected of being gay or bisexual.
Nikki
Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, condemned the
crackdown and the
U.S. Senate approved a resolution with similar language. The
United States also sanctioned Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov for the
alleged human rights abuses.
(Related: QE's
Jonathan Van Ness calls out Nicki Minaj for covering Harper's
Bazaar Russia.)