Children-404

The Project’s Facebook and VK pages (entitled "Children-404") publish letters from Russian LGBT teenagers in which they talk about the problems they face in their lives due to homophobic people around them - friends, relatives, classmates, teachers, and others. The Project’s pages also publishes letters from adults with words of support for the Russian LGBT adolescents. The number "404" in the project title refers to the internet error message "Error 404 - Page not found". The project authors draw attention to the fact that in Russian society not many people consider the existence of gay and transgender children and the challenges that they face in an LGBT-intolerant environment. The Project description states: ==Inception==

Lena Klimova, a young journalist from Ekaterinburg, published a series of articles critical of the parliamentary bills against "propaganda of homosexuality". Afterwards she received an e-mail from a 15-year-old girl who said that she was being bullied by her classmates and her parents because of her homosexuality. The girl wrote that had been on the verge of suicide, but Klimova’s article had made her change her mind. After that Klimova started to research the lives of LGBT adolescents in Russia, and created an online survey. Within under two weeks Klimova had received over a hundred e-mail responses, and that is what made her resolve to create an online support project for LGBT teens. The project consists of two parts: a private "closed" group on the Russian social network VK, whose purpose is to offer psychological assistance to LGBT teens, and in which they can share their problems and get help from adult participants; and open projects on Facebook and VK which publish letters from teens. The popular Spanish newspaper El Mundo wrote the following about the "Children-404" Project in an article entitled "How dangerous to be homosexual in Russia", writes: "The photos show young faces whose eyes are concealed by placards with the inscription 'Children-404'. In numerous letters teens shout 'We exist!' in protest against widespread intolerance". ==History==

The "Children-404" Project has attracted attention outside Russia. In summer and early autumn of 2013 in a number of cities in the world - New York City, Oslo, London - public rallies were held in support of the Russian LGBT adolescents and the "Children-404" Project. In January 2015, Klimova was, again, charged with violating the propaganda law for operating Children-404, facing a fine of 50,000 rubles. The charges were dropped by a Nizhny Tagil court after an appeal. However, in July 2015, Klimova was charged once more and convicted by the same court for violating the law, facing the same fine. Klimova intended to appeal. ==Opinions==

• In June 2013 Yelena Mizulina, Deputy in the Russian State Duma and author of the federal law banning "propaganda of non-traditional relationships", in an interview with Gazeta.Ru, said that the "Children-404" Project does not constitute "propaganda": {{quotation|1=Do you know about the “Children 404” Project? Mizulina: No, I don’t. This is a site where children with a non-traditional orientation send their stories, talk about how they live. I beg you to look at this site before the bill is passed at second reading. Mizulina: Such a project is not concerned with the propaganda of non-traditional relationships. ''What is it like for these children when they discover that they are not like everyone else? How do they get information that it is not a disease, that it's okay?'' Mizulina: Information that is explanatory, or descriptive, or which does not call for anything, which is not provocative, which doesn’t depict non-traditional sexual relations, is not propaganda, it can be legally accessed by teens.{{cite web|url=http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2013/06/10_a_5375845.shtml ==See also==