Moscow, Russia – Jamie Kirchick, an award-winning journalist and former columnist of Advocate, was kicked off of Russia Today, a Russian government-owned network, for speaking about the country’s ban on “homosexual propaganda.” Kirchick was invited to join a panel to discuss the sentencing of Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley), but the Kremlin-owned network got more than they bargained for when Kirchick appeared in rainbow suspenders, refusing to stay on topic. “Being here on a Kremlin-funded propaganda network, I’m going to wear my gay pride suspenders and I’m going to speak out against the horrific antigay legislation that Vladimir Putin has signed into law, that passed unanimously by the Russian Duma that criminalizes homosexual propaganda,” Kirchick started. “It effectively makes it illegal to talk about homosexuality in public. We’ve seen a spate of violent attacks on gay people in Russia.”

RT anchor Yulia Shapovalova attempted to get Kirchick back on topic, but it became clear Kirchick was not going to cooperate: “I’m not really interested in talking about Bradley Manning,” said Kirchick. “I’m interested in talking about the horrific environment of homophobia in Russia right now, and to let the Russian gay people know that they have friends and allies in solidarity from people all over the world, and that we’re not going to be silenced in the face [of] horrific repression that is perpetrated by your paymaster, Vladimir Putin. That’s what I’m here to talk about.” By this point, RT cut his video feed, removing him from the panel on screen.

Later on in the day, Kirchick tweeted that the network also ordered his airport taxi driver to kick Kirchick out on the side of the highway instead of taking him to his Stockholm Airport destination. RT later told the Washington Blade that they found it “surprising” that Kirchick would expect RT to pay for his cab fare after speaking out against the network.