A family that fled Russia after receiving homophobic rape and death threats for appearing in a supermarket advert has said the experience was “like a nightmare” and demanded the right to a normal life.
Yuma Yuma, 49, left Moscow for Barcelona last week with her two adult daughters and her eight-year-old granddaughter after receiving online messages threatening to kill and rape the child.
Yuma and her daughter, Alina, both have female partners and the whole family campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights in Russia, which in 2013 banned the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors” – a move decried by Western countries as state-enforced bigotry.
The family came under attack after featuring in a promotional article on the website of upmarket food retailer Vkusvill in which they talked about how they liked shopping for fair trade goods and hummus.
The article did not reference their sexuality, but it sparked a huge backlash, with anti-LGBTQ+ groups calling for a criminal investigation and a boycott of Vkusvill, while the family were sent pictures of blood on social media.
“We would ask people to stop looking in our pants and who we’re having sex with and think about us as just a family who want to live peacefully,” said Mila, 23, in a video call from a hostel in a Barcelona with her sister and their mother, Yuma.
“The message is clear: we are a normal family,” added Mila, who lost her job as a manager for an online education company because the family left Russia. “We eat hummus together and vegan sour cream.”
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