The Russian Supreme Court decided on Thursday that LGBT activists ought to be labeled as radicals. Advocates for the LGBTQ+ community claim this decision will result in arrests and legal action.
Russia’s justice ministry has approved a request to recognize the international LGBT social movement as extremist and ban its activities. This move is part of a string of laws outlawing the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relations and banning legal or medical changes of gender. President Vladimir Putin has long sought to promote an image of Russia as a guardian of traditional moral values in contrast with a decadent West. The Supreme Court took just over two hours to issue its ruling, and LGBT activists saw the decision as inevitable after the November 17 request by the justice ministry. More than 100 groups are already banned in Russia as “extremist,” with previous listings serving as a prelude to arrests.
LGBT activists have expressed alarm at the threat of activities such as psychological and legal support being driven underground, depriving many LGBT people of support. They fear that their lives will be shortened, their health will deteriorate, and they will drink and smoke more, trying to escape from this reality. The Kremlin has not commented on the case, and the Supreme Court’s ruling has been met with skepticism from the Kremlin.
Head of UN Human Rights criticizes action
U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk has criticized a Russian ruling that restricts the work of human rights defenders and discriminates against LGBT people, calling for immediate repeal of such laws by Russian authorities.
Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights Office, expressed concern over the LBGT community’s situation in Russia, citing fear of arrest and prosecution, and the lack of clarity around the court’s definition of the LGBT movement.
In Russia, homosexuality
In Russia, homosexuality was previously a criminal offense until 1993 and a mental illness until 1999. In 2013, the law expanded to criminalize the “propaganda” of non-traditional sexual orientations to children, including public, online, and media promotion.
Russian authorities have been lenient with Transgender Russians since 1997, despite challenges and invasive surgical requirements. However, in recent years, they have denied permits for Pride parades, intimidated and arrested LGBT activists, and condoned anti-LGBT statements by government officials. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association has ranked Russia as the least protective country in Europe for LGBT citizens, ranking it 49th out of 49 countries rated in its annual survey.
Past Events
Under Peter the Great’s rule, Russia underwent a wide range of reforms aimed at modernizing and Westernizing. Military statutes banned male homosexual activity, but only for soldiers. In 1832, Article 995 outlined a criminal act punishable by exile to Siberia for men lying with men. This law was interpreted as anal sex. By the turn of the century, these laws were relaxed, leading to increased tolerance and visibility in Russia.
After the October Revolution, Russia’s Bolshevik regime decriminalized homosexuality, rewriting the constitution and creating two Criminal Codes in 1922 and 1926. This led to the legalization of homosexual and transgender activity within Russia, but it remained illegal in other Soviet Union territories. Under Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union recriminalized homosexuality in 1933, punishing it with imprisonment for up to 5 years and sending female homosexuals to mental institutions. Despite Stalin’s death, attitudes towards sexual issues in the Soviet Union liberalized, but homosexual acts remained illegal. Discrimination against LGBT individuals persisted in the Soviet era, and homosexuality was not officially declassified as a mental illness until 1999.
Soviet Article 121 was used to extend prison sentences and control dissidents, including film director Sergei Paradjanov and poet Gennady Trifonov. Under Mikhail Gorbachev’s administration, the first gay organization, the Moscow Gay & Lesbian Alliance, emerged in the late 1980s.
Perceptions among people
In Russia, the general public has a negative attitude about homosexuality, and prejudice has been growing. In a study conducted in 2022, 74% of Russians—up from 60% in 2002—agreed that society should not tolerate homosexuality, while only 14% stated that it should. 86% of Russians surveyed in 2015 said that society shouldn’t embrace homosexuality. According to 68% of Russians in a 2007 study, homosexuality is almost always bad (14%) or always wrong (54%).
In a 2005 survey, 44% of Russians supported criminalizing homosexual conduct between consenting adults; conversely, 43% of Russians favored outlawing discrimination based solely on sexual orientation.
In 2013, 16% of Russians surveyed believed that gay people should be isolated from society, 22% should undergo treatment, and 5% should be “liquidated.” Despite the removal of homosexuality from the mental disorder list, 62.5% of 450 surveyed psychiatrists in the Rostov Region view it as an illness, with up to three-quarters viewing it as immoral behavior. They oppose pride parades and schemes to remove openly lesbian and gay individuals from schools, child care centers, and other public institutions. A Russian motorcycle club, the Night Wolves, associated with President Vladimir Putin, organized a large Anti-Maidan rally in February 2015, stating “We don’t need Western ideology and gay parades!”
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