Another Russian gay couple take lead in Russian contest to become Ikea cover stars

“This gives gays in Russia an opportunity to present themselves”.

Photo of Yuri and his sweetheart take lead in Russian contest to become Ikea cover stars. Two young men from St. Petersburg are still in the lead in IKEA contest for the best family photo.

- It was necessary to come to IKEA, to take picture and to put it on the website of the company. Although we had some technical problems, and we were engaged in intensive negotiations with the company concerning our participation in the competition. We did it on purpose to attract the attention of city residents to the existing LGBT issues - told Yuri Kotov.

Photo of Yuri and his boyfriend is currently in the lead in the competition. - We have launched a special appeal to vote for us on our pages in social networks and in all relevant groups, and the guys have supported us. This competition is an opportunity to present ourselves without any political ambitions, - said Yuri Kotov.

- I understand the reason why the participants removed their photos from the competition. It’s because of exclusive attention and homophobia in Russia. We are not going to remove our photo. For what? We will not do that, especially since we did not violate the law. Despite the fact that we got threats through the Internet, we are not afraid, - says Yuri.

Note that this is not the first time that gay people are promoting their candidates for the competition of the Swedish furniture giant. The last photograph of previous gay couple that has gathered the most number of votes in a Russian IKEA catalogue contest has been withdrawn from the race at the request of the participant.

Removing photos from the competition has caused a wave of indignation in the LGBT community.