A Russian university threatened a student with expulsion, saying his pink phone and pro-LGBT activity on social media prove that he's gay, according to media reports.
The Moscow Times reports: ‘The reported threats made by Ural State University of Economics (USUE) administrators in Russia's fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg come six years after the Russian government banned “homosexual propaganda” toward minors. Authorities in Russia have used the law to block pride parades and rights activists say homophobic attacks have become more frequent, despite recent polling suggesting that attitudes toward equal rights for LGBT groups have reached their highest level in years.'
The USUE administrators pointed to the student's pink phone and his presence in pro-LGBT social media groups as proof that he's gay.
Said the student of a talk with the school's vice president: “The fact that I have a girlfriend, in his opinion, is not an excuse and doesn't prove that I'm not gay.”
A school official told Russian media that it monitors students on social media: “We're a state university so we look at our students' moral character. Why shouldn't our youth policy and social departments be looking at what our students do outside class time?”
The official also told media that reports the school threatened to expel the student were false.
