Post submitted by Javier Cifuentes, HRC Global Intern

Following President Trump’s call for closer ties with the Kremlin, ultra-conservative activists, like infamous exporter of hate and vocal Putin supporter Brian Brown, have renewed their push to export hate abroad.

On Tuesday, Brown announced that he is renewing his crusade against the Russian LGBTQ community, BuzzFeed News reports. In an email sent to donors, Brown, leader of the notorious anti-equality organizations World Congress of Families (WCF) and National Organization for Marriage (NOM), claimed that he is currently in Moscow promoting the manifesto of his newest anti-LGBTQ hate group, the International Organization for the Family (IOF).

Brown is working to rebuild the relationships he created in Russia during the passage of the draconian anti-LGBTQ propaganda law in 2013, which had disastrous consequences for the local LGBTQ community.

The IOF’s manifesto, the so-called “Cape Town Declaration,” claims to promote “the dignity of marriage as the conjugal bond of man and woman.” So far, only two anti-equality campaigners in Russia signed the declaration. One of the signatories is a Russian parliamentarian and prominent member of Putin’s United Russia Party.

Russian officials are reportedly excited to once again engage with American exporters of hate. According to Russian business newspaper RBC, an unnamed lawmaker from Putin’s United Russia party claims to already be working with American anti-LGBTQ activists to build “a program of cooperation” that will be focused on “family values.”

In 2014, Brown spoke at an anti-equality event reportedly sponsored by Putin’s inner circle, and in 2013, Brown lobbied the Russian parliament to tighten restrictions on the adoption of Russian children by same-sex couples. Additionally, WCF forcefully advocated for the anti-LGBTQ Russian propaganda law before its passage in 2013, and even met with the law’s author in the Russian Duma and released a public letter supporting the measure.

Since losing the battle against marriage equality in the U.S., Brown has publicly supported anti-LGBTQ movements in Russia, Mexico, France, Australia, Spain, Kenya and Trinidad and Tobago, among others. Brown is currently scheduled to continue his tour of hatred and speak at the World Congress of Families XI Summit that will take place in Budapest, Hungary at the end of May.

To read HRC’s Export of Hate report and learn more about the anti-LGBTQ American extremists who are exporting their hate abroad, click here.