{"id":10596,"date":"2025-01-14T10:41:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T09:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=10596"},"modified":"2025-04-04T19:37:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T18:37:56","slug":"a-fictional-conversation-between-lavrov-and-a-journalist-about-the-lgbt-stairs-at-the-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2025\/01\/14\/a-fictional-conversation-between-lavrov-and-a-journalist-about-the-lgbt-stairs-at-the-un\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fictional Conversation Between Lavrov and a Journalist About the \u201cLGBT Stairs\u201d at the Un"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Original article<\/a> (in Bosnian) was published on 13\/1\/2024; Author: Sehija Kamenica<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Journalists allegedly asked Sergei Lavrov how he feels walking on rainbow-coloured stairs at the UN, to which he cynically responded with a remark about \u201ctrampling\u201d LGBT people in Russia. This \u201cconversation\u201d is being shared on social media but is a fabricated anecdote.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 1, 2024, the Instagram page vijesti_365 published a photo<\/a> of Russian diplomat Sergei Lavrov along with an alleged conversation he had with \u201cWestern journalists\u201d. The journalists reportedly provoked him with a question about the \u201crainbow-colored stairs\u201d in the United Nations building, to which he supposedly gave a \u201cwitty\u201d response involving a derogatory remark about the LGBT community in Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSergei Lavrov shines once again! The stairs at the UN are painted in rainbow colors, and the depraved Western journalists couldn’t resist asking Lavrov a foolish question:<\/em>
‘How do you feel walking on the LGBTQIA+ stairs?’<\/em>
<\/em>Lavrov responded:<\/em>
<\/em>Russia traditionally wipes its feet on gay people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This post appears to be fabricated and intended as satire or propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image<\/a> had over 300 \u201clikes\u201d and numerous comments at the time of writing this analysis. It was also published as a reel<\/a> on the Facebook page of the same name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alleged exchange between Lavrov and journalists about the \u201cLGBT stairs\u201d at the UN has been shared since October 4, 2023, when it was posted on the social network X. We found several such posts on this platform and on Facebook (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>). Some of these posts also included an image of the \u201cLGBT stairs\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the Facts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sergei Lavrov<\/a> is a Russian diplomat and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. His \u201cconversation with Western journalists\u201d about the stairs at the UN and the LGBT community in Russia had previously been shared in Russian (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An internet search using relevant keywords does not yield any results confirming that such a conversation ever took place or that any media outlet or journalist reported on this alleged situation involving \u201cLGBT stairs\u201d at the UN (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>). The only places where this \u201cconversation\u201d can be found are posts on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the posts featuring Lavrov’s \u201cconversation with Western journalists\u201d also included an image of stairs in various colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were unable to find the original image from the posts online, but an image search yielded results showing similar stairs from different angles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the results is the official website<\/a> of the Dutch government, where a photo<\/a> of the painted stairs in front of the UN was published. The caption states that the photo is from 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We contacted the UN office in Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the stairs in the photograph. We wanted to know what the stairs symbolize and whether they are a permanent feature in the UN building. Their response stated the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This was not a permanent installation. The stairs were painted in rainbow colors in 2022 as part of a project sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This was done during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly and related to LGBT rights.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

They also informed us that there is no permanent installation dedicated to LGBT rights at the UN headquarters in New York. However, member states are allowed to set up and\/or sponsor temporary exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the stairs at the UN were not painted in \u201crainbow colors\u201d as claimed in the analyzed posts. The stairs in the photograph were part of an event sponsored by the Dutch mission in 2022. The \u201cconversation\u201d between Sergei Lavrov and \u201cWestern journalists\u201d about \u201cLGBT stairs\u201d at the UN has not been published anywhere, lacks any source to confirm its authenticity, and exists only in social media posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this alleged exchange between the Russian diplomat and journalists is merely an urban legend, the poor state of LGBT rights in Russia it describes is a reality. For years, Russian authorities have restricted the space for organizations dealing with LGBT rights. As early as 2013, a law was passed<\/a> in Russia banning so-called gay propaganda or the promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships among young people, as it was defined at the time. This law has been used to silence activists and further stigmatize the LGBT community. It was expanded in 2022 to include a ban on \u201cgay propaganda\u201d<\/a> among adults, and in November 2023, the Russian Supreme Court<\/a> designated the \u201cLGBT movement\u201d as an extremist organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Therefore, the claim that the stairs at the UN were painted in \u201crainbow colors\u201d is rated as a manipulation of facts<\/strong>. The first post about Sergei Lavrov\u2019s \u201cconversation\u201d with \u201cWestern journalists,\u201d without clarification that it is not authentic information, is rated as fake news<\/strong>. Other such posts are considered to be a distribution of fake news<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 13\/1\/2024; Author: Sehija Kamenica Journalists allegedly asked Sergei Lavrov how he feels walking on rainbow-coloured stairs at the UN, to which he cynically responded with a remark about \u201ctrampling\u201d LGBT people in Russia. This \u201cconversation\u201d is being shared on social media but is a fabricated anecdote. On December […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10597,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[525,524,184],"class_list":["post-10596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks","tag-lgbt","tag-sergei-lavrov","tag-un"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10596"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10912,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10596\/revisions\/10912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}