--- title: Vladimir Putin: Image of Russian Leader as Gay Clown Banned description: The image of Vladimir Putin depicts the Russian leader wearing heavy make up, with text implying that he is gay canonical: https://time.com/4728422/russia-putin-clown-lbtq-court/ author: Zamira Rahim article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-06T15:57:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:15:20.282Z article:section: World og:title: A Russian Court Ruled You Can’t Depict Vladimir Putin as a Gay Clown in Russia og:description: Court documents suggest the image is banned because it implies Putin is gay og:url: https://time.com/4728422/russia-putin-clown-lbtq-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70f81ae632abf9d1/6988c1a8bc6cfc3ea63e0c64/putin-lgbt-parade-pride-gay1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 170406_Putin makeup og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Russian Court Ruled You Can’t Depict Vladimir Putin as a Gay Clown in Russia twitter:description: Court documents suggest the image is banned because it implies Putin is gay twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70f81ae632abf9d1/6988c1a8bc6cfc3ea63e0c64/putin-lgbt-parade-pride-gay1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Russian Court Ruled You Can’t Depict Vladimir Putin as a Gay Clown in Russia by [Zamira Rahim](/author/zamira-rahim/) ## Zamira Rahim Apr 6, 2017 3:57 PM CUT  A man holds up a picture of an painted Russian President Vladimir Putin during the LGBT Pride Parade in Bratislava, Slovakia on June 28, 2014. A man holds up a picture of an painted Russian President Vladimir Putin during the LGBT Pride Parade in Bratislava, Slovakia on June 28, 2014.Samuel Kubani—AFP/Getty Images by [Zamira Rahim](/author/zamira-rahim/) ## Zamira Rahim Apr 6, 2017 3:57 PM CUT The Russian Justice Ministry has banned the use of an image depicting President [Vladmir Putin](http://time.com/4623407/the-troublemaker/ "undefined") wearing make-up, apparently reacting to the photo’s implication that President Putin might be gay. Court papers say that the image “hints at the Russian president’s allegedly nonstandard sexual orientation,” [the _Moscow Times_ ](https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-court-bans-image-suggesting-putin-is-gay-57632 "undefined")reports. The image shows Putin wearing make-up including red lipstick. The text on the picture says “They say there are many of them, but there aren’t any among the people I know.” Putin has overseen [oppressive laws](http://time.com/4034903/vladimir-putin-elton-john-lgbt-gay-rights/ "undefined") curbing LGBTQ rights in Russia. The image is now on Russia’s list of prohibited extremist materials, which is over 4,000 items long. The image was originally shared online by a man named A. V. Tsvetkov, who has now been ordered by the court to undergo psychiatric care and has since deleted the account he posted the photo with, the _Moscow Times_ reports. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4728422/russia-putin-clown-lbtq-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4728422/russia-putin-clown-lbtq-court/"},"headline":"A Russian Court Ruled You Can’t Depict Vladimir Putin as a Gay Clown in Russia","datePublished":"2017-04-06T15:57:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:15:20.282Z","description":"Challenge accepted.","url":"https://time.com/4728422/russia-putin-clown-lbtq-court/","keywords":["russia","LGBTQ Rights","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70f81ae632abf9d1/6988c1a8bc6cfc3ea63e0c64/putin-lgbt-parade-pride-gay1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zamira Rahim","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zamira-rahim/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70f81ae632abf9d1/6988c1a8bc6cfc3ea63e0c64/putin-lgbt-parade-pride-gay1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170406_Putin makeup","caption":"SLOVAKIA-GAYS-HOMOSEXUALITY-RIGHTS-PARADE","creditText":"Samuel Kubani—AFP/Getty Images","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/4728422/russia-putin-clown-lbtq-court/","name":"A Russian Court Ruled You Can’t Depict Vladimir Putin as a Gay Clown in Russia"}}]}] ```