Russia Bans Rainbow Unicorn Bank Cards for Being Too Gay

A whimsical children’s bank card has been banned in Russia as it is considered to violate the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws. The card, which features a unicorn with a rainbow-colored mane, was labeled as gay propaganda because of a rainbow’s association as a symbol of gay pride.

Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, issued this card as an option in a line of seven child-friendly designs for children ages 6-13. While the unicorn card was most likely designed to appeal to kids with its bright colors, the rainbow has instead been interpreted by Russian lawmakers to be endorsing the LGBTQ+ community.

In a letter addressed to the head of Sberbank, the lower chamber of State Duma’s Family, Women, and Children Committee demanded that the rainbow unicorn be removed from the cards, with the threat of legal penalties if the bank did not comply.

According to TASS, a state-run news agency, the letter reads, “We ask you, dear German Oskarovich, to take into account the opinion of parents and deputies of our committee on preventing violations of Russian legislation and to halt the issuance of the Children’s SberCard with the ‘rainbow unicorn’—a symbol of the LGBT movement.”

In November 2023, the LGBTQ+ movement was labeled as an extremist organization by Russia’s Supreme Court. The designation was to outlaw seemingly coordinated movements orchestrated by the LGBTQ+ community, but there’s no evidence any such movement exists.

The intended purpose, however, was to give Russia the ability to police and silence LGBTQ+ identities nationwide. This has been a goal of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government since 2013, when it was outlawed for there to be Pride parades or public displays of affection between gay couples in Russia, as an effort to protect the innocence of children.

In 2022, the ban was expanded to include people of all ages, criminalizing any action or information that could be considered to promote LGBTQ+ themes or identities in public, online, or in media.

The rainbow unicorn bank card seems harmless with loose LGBTQ+ connections. However, the Duma has policed smaller instances like this before. In February, a woman was jailed for five days for wearing rainbow earrings, and a My Little Pony convention was shut down due to featuring the character Rainbow Dash on its flyers. In the end, the character’s rainbow mane was changed to Russia’s colors: red, blue, and white.

While it seems ridiculous for Russia to hold authority over images like that, and the wider erasure of queer Russians is concerning, there is a very funny implication that a member of Russia’s government is familiar enough with My Little Pony to tell that Rainbow Dash’s design was altered in the convention’s advertising. While Russia is preoccupied with policing the lives of LGBTQ+ people, little do they know they have Bronies hiding amongst them.