On January 26, Beka Kvitsiani, journalist of pro-Kremlin news agency News Front Georgia, shared the photo of a U.S. soldier published by the Facebook user Nana Julukhadze. The photo with the inscription “Telegram Channel NotaBene74” depicts a soldier in a pink military uniform wearing make-up and earrings. The author of the post asks a rhetorical question about whether it is possible to return Abkhazia and Ossetia and restore Georgia’s territorial integrity with this policy of Biden. Her commentary has a homophobic context and aims to sow nihilism, that the U.S, where LGBT community members serve in the army, cannot assist Georgia with restoring territorial integrity and dignity. (Dayvigo)
The disseminated photo is processed with a program and has been circulating in a homophobic context for years now. The photo is often used as a MEME, but sometimes can be found attached to the articles.
Traces of program processing can be easily spotted on the photo, beret and the whole uniform is colored, digital make-up is applied on the soldier’s face, and the name tag on the chest, the left side, where officer’s surname should be written, is erased. In reality, the mentioned uniform belongs to the U.S. army 75th ranger regiment and looks like this:
Richard Clarke, 75th ranger regiment
According to data from TinEye, photo processed with a program can be found on the internet since 2013. Throughout the years it was disseminated with different descriptions and often in homophobic context, including pro-Russian news agency “Sakinformi” that used the mentioned photo in an article. In the article, the news agency wrote that per Donald Trump’s decision, transgender people cannot serve in the U.S military.
In 2017, the U.S 45th president Donald Trump indeed announced that transgender citizens would no longer serve in the military. The ban was enacted in April 2019, however, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that overturned the ban on January 25, 2021. “President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service and that America’s strength is found in its diversity” – the White House said in the statement.
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