Russian Actor Wants to Burn All Gays in Furnaces

As if news from behind the former iron curtain couldn't possibly get any worse these days, a Russian actor is making headlines Friday after he reportedly made violent anti-gay remarks at a "spiritual talks" event in Novosibirsk, Russia, on Dec. 8, Queer Russia reports.

"I myself would shove all live gays into a furnace," Ivan Okhlobystin, 47, said according to NGS News. "This is Sodom and Gomorrah, I as a believer in God can not treat this indifferently, this is a live threat to my kids!... I do not want my kids to think that faggots are normal. This is lavender fascism. If a person can not choose someone of an opposite sex for procreation -- this is an overt sign of mental abnormality, so they should be denied of voting rights."

Okhlobystin took to Twitter on Dec. 13 and replied to a follower, who asked how his statements were supposed to be understood.

"[Thers is] too much pathos. It all sounded much simplier. But the meaning is transmitted correctly. Everyone has a right to have a personal opinion," he wrote.

He later added: "For a man there are only two options available to have an attitude toward sodomites: either acceptance or rejection. Given the aggression with which sodomites dictate their will to the world, there can not be some middle way. If you continue to flirt with sodomites, citing the rules of international, civil or criminal law -- it means to be cunning and violating the law of God."

"Putting it simple -- to serve the devil. Even non-participation in the solution of this problem is a betrayal of God, whatever numerous and often conflicting "rights" claim, the actor continued. "Plus the existence of official organizations which sodomites have in all their forms, from homosexuals to pedophiles -- it is a direct insult to the feelings of believers in God, and therefore it should be prosecuted."

Queer Russia reports that Okhlobystin is not a stranger to making anti-gay comments and made similar statements in 2012.

The website also reports that the actor achieved popularity in the '90s, but later withdrew to a monastery to become a Russian Orthodox priest. In 2010 he returned to acting and later became the creative editor of Euroset, Russia's largest handset retailer.