In August we reported that a gay club in Almaty, Kazakhstan was under fire for an online ad banner featuring folk singer Qurmanghazy Saghyrbaiuly kissing Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin, a clever take on the fact that the club is located at the intersection of Qurmanghazy and Pushkin streets.
Conservative Kazakhs and Russians, angry over the poster, filed lawsuits, and now the club has been fined, Radio Free Europe reports:
A court in Almaty found Havas Worldwide Kazakhstan Company guilty of "advertising goods and services banned in Kazakhstan."
The court ruled on September 24 that the company's director, Daria Khamitzhanova, must pay a $700 fine and her company a $1,000 fine.
The case against the company was filed by Almaty youth authorities.
Some politicians in Kazakhstan have recently been pushing for Russian-style bans on gay "propaganda". Dauren Babamuratov, leader of the Bolashak national movement, held a press conference last week calling for the laws and claimed that gay people can be identified by "colored pants" and blood tests for "degeneracy."
