Moscow Court Bans Romance Novel 'Heated Rivalry' for LGBT Propaganda

The Cheryomushkinsky District Court in Moscow has banned three web pages on pirated websites containing the text of the novel Heated Rivalry by American author Rachel Reid. According to the court ruling, the block was prompted by the prosecutor’s office, which identified the book as “propaganda of the extremist LGBT ideology.”

According to the independent outlet Vyorstka , the banned pages belong to the resources BookPlaneta, Siteknig, and Libsafe. The court order claims that these addresses hosted “images propagating non-traditional sexual relations.” However, reports note that the only image on the blocked pages was the novel’s cover, depicting two hockey players preparing for a face-off.

Currently, the full text of the work is hidden on two of the mentioned sites, while the page containing the book has been completely deleted on the third resource.

Heated Rivalry tells the story of a relationship between two professional hockey players—one Russian and one Canadian. In 2025, a television series based on the book was released.