Channel 4 - Dispatches: Hunted

Last night Channel 4 aired an hour long documentary at 10pm entitled Dispatches: Hunted. The documentary itself was a painful reminder of the current situation in Russia and the attitude the country has not only with it's LGBT citizens but also the promotion of tolerance and equality. Being aware of the news for the last few months, I knew the situation was bad. Watching this documentary however, even I was shocked to realise just how bad the situation had become.

Presented by Liz MacKean, Hunted showed vigilante groups using social media to target and entrap gay people, who they then would either beat up, torture and degrade before posting their victims ordeal online in a bid to further humiliate them. I have to admit to finding myself getting particularly angry that the crew behind this documentary didn't step in to actually help a man who was being interrogated by a spiteful woman named Katya and threatened by thirteen men as well.

In the hour documentary we also met a lesbian couple now living in fear that their children they've had from previous relationships would be taken away from them if the laws going against gay couples and single parents came into effect. I'm not a parent but I am a firm believer that no child should be taken away from a loving family unit and some of the people seen in this documentary shouldn't be allowed to influence children and pass on their disgraceful values.

Of course, it wasn't just gay people being shown at risk. Even straight people who openly supported equal rights (including a female school teacher here) were being targeted by so called 'citizens' of Russia who demanded that they would be named and shamed and even set alight at one point as well. The father who seemed to have a specific axe to grind with the female teacher definitely showed his true colours as an abhorrent human being and an all round hypocrite.

Watching this hour long documentary, I couldn't help but feel both extremely angered and saddened by the current situation with the mistreatment of LGBT Russian citizens. Of course I wasn't the only one with plenty of people on social media (of all types of sexual orientation) expressing similar reactions to my own.

The current situation under Putin's ruling is an utter disgrace and really can be likened to fascism. Something has to be done to stop these psychotic witch hunts and persecution of LGBT citizens and it has to be done now. I know it's basically stating the obvious but it really does need to be stated and constantly, until something actually is done. This documentary proved to be a horrifying eye opener as to why Russia's current laws and actions are beyond inhumane and need stopping.

Hunted can be watched on 4OD for those who missed it.