--- title: Russia Created a "Flag for Straights" to Fight "Gay Fever" description: The flag depicts a man and a woman holding hands with three children, and under the image is the hashtag #realfamily in Russian canonical: https://time.com/3950806/russia-flag-for-straights-gay/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-09T12:20:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:05:12.906Z article:section: World og:title: Russia Created a "Flag for Straights" to Fight "Gay Fever" og:description: The flag depicts a man and a woman holding hands with three children, and under the image is the hashtag #realfamily in Russian og:url: https://time.com/3950806/russia-flag-for-straights-gay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ced3ba5d5839f51/69885a32f887dc34b5e914a8/russia-flag-for-straights.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Russia flag for straights og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russia Created a "Flag for Straights" to Fight "Gay Fever" twitter:description: The flag depicts a man and a woman holding hands with three children, and under the image is the hashtag #realfamily in Russian twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ced3ba5d5839f51/69885a32f887dc34b5e914a8/russia-flag-for-straights.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russia Created a "Flag for Straights" to Fight "Gay Fever"  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 9, 2015 12:20 PM CUT  United Russia party  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 9, 2015 12:20 PM CUT To oppose “gay fever,” Russia’s ruling party has created what they’re calling a “flag for straights.” The flag, which was made by the United Russia party, was unveiled in Moscow Wednesday, [Russia Today reports](http://rt.com/politics/272416-russia-straight-flag-family/ "undefined"). The flag depicts a man and a woman holding hands with three children, and under the image is the hashtag #realfamily in Russian. Aleksey Lisovenko, deputy head of United Russia’s Moscow organization, said the flag was created to counter the popular LGBTQ rainbow flag. “This is our answer to same sex marriages, this mockery of the very concept of family,” he said to Russian newspaperIzvestia, according to Russia Today. “We must prevent gay fever in our country and support traditional values.” Opponents of the flag have already begun [altering it on social media](http://mashable.com/2015/07/09/russia-heterosexual-flag/ "undefined"), coloring the figures with rainbow colors or changing the parents to same sex couples. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3950806/russia-flag-for-straights-gay/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3950806/russia-flag-for-straights-gay/"},"headline":"Russia Created a \"Flag for Straights\" to Fight \"Gay Fever\"","datePublished":"2015-07-09T12:20:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:05:12.906Z","description":"The flag depicts a man and a woman holding hands with three children, and under the image is the hashtag #realfamily in Russian","url":"https://time.com/3950806/russia-flag-for-straights-gay/","keywords":["russia","Homosexuality","gay"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ced3ba5d5839f51/69885a32f887dc34b5e914a8/russia-flag-for-straights.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ced3ba5d5839f51/69885a32f887dc34b5e914a8/russia-flag-for-straights.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russia flag for straights","caption":"Russia flag for straights","creditText":"United Russia party","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3950806/russia-flag-for-straights-gay/","name":"Russia Created a \"Flag for Straights\" to Fight \"Gay Fever\""}}]}] ```