Read The Heartbreaking Online Letters Of Young, LGBT Russians; HuffingtonPost.com, 2/25/14

Betsy Isaacson, HuffingtonPost.com; Read The Heartbreaking Online Letters Of Young, LGBT Russians:

"Some young LGBT Russians have come together for support online, as part of a community called "Deti-404." The name means "Youth-404" in English, a reference to the common online error message "404 Page Not Found" and a comment on Russia's seeming denial of the existence of LGBT youth. The community serves as a social space for Russian-speaking LGBT young people, providing support and publishing anonymous letters from teens and 20-somethings who want to speak about their experiences.

On the group's Facebook page (in Russian), Deti-404 founder, Russian journalist and LGBT activist Lena Klimova, writes that LGBT youth saw their identities erased during the latest wave of legislation: "Our society believes that gay teenagers do not exist in nature, as if gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people arrive from Mars as adults ... Stop, people! Hear them! These are your children. Who knows: Maybe you’ll see the letter of your own child here?"

The community currently exists on two social networks: Facebook and its Russian equivalent, Vkontakte...

But if conservative Russian lawmakers have their way, Deti-404 won't exist for much longer.