Rsia: Expand 'Gay Propaganda' Ban Progrs Toward Law | Human Rights Watch

Contents:

• “WE’RE TIRED OF GAY PROPAGANDA”
• RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW
• WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT RSIA’S SO-CALLED ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ BILL
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• RSIA’S ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ LAWS ARE ILLEGAL, EUROPEAN COURT RUL
• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
• HOW RSIAN PDISHNS PRODUCED AN ANTI-GAY LAW

“WE’RE TIRED OF GAY PROPAGANDA”

) but NOT EVEN ONE addrsed the ugly tth of homosexual recg which Rsia at least is smart enough to stand up agast: Homosexuals are showg their te fac by howlg agast a law whose only tent is to prevent preyg on mors. * * * Liberals who are so obssed wh this issue should stay a Rsian Prison for few days to realize that they have the most gay-iendly environment * * * Why n't the homosexual/perasty muny unrstand here and Rsia that we want you to stay away om our children? In Ameri, up until the 90's no one was preachg that homosexualy was "normal", no one was talkg about beg a "Civil Right", no one was sayg the homosexuals should be able to marry, so what happened such a short time that ma everythg change?

The draft legislatn classifi displays of non-heterosexual relatns or orientatn as “rmatn harmful to children’s health and velopment” and provis that webs and other onle sourc hostg rmatn about lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people n be blocked. “The 2013 ‘gay propaganda’ law was an unabashed example of polil homophobia, and the new draft legislatn amplifi that broar and harsher ways, ” said Tanya Loksha, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. In Rsia, antipathy towards homosexualy and genr variance is not new—LGBT people there have long faced threats, bullyg, abe si their fai, and discrimatn—but the 2013 “gay propaganda” law has creased that social hostily.

And while Rsian ernment officials and parliament members claim that the goal of the “gay propaganda” law is to protect children om potentially harmful subject matter, the law fact directly harms children by nyg them accs to sential rmatn and creasg stigma agast LGBT youth and their fai. While some LGBT youth told that teachers had supported and protected them, many others said their teachers characterize LGBT people as a symptom of perversn imported om Wtern Europe or North Ameri, mirrorg the polil homophobia that motivated the passage of the “gay propaganda” law the first place.

RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW

Some explaed that they felt forced to speak about sexual orientatn and genr inty only phemisms, or to say explicly at the outset of unselg ssns that they nnot and will not dissemate “gay propaganda” attempts to dispel advance any notn that they are vlatg the law.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT RSIA’S SO-CALLED ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ BILL

Instct relevant law enforcement agenci, such as the office of the prosecutor general, the Mistry of Interr, and the Invtigative Commtee, to gather data about homophobic and transphobic crim, and make such data publicly available. In le wh the June 2013 EU guil on promotg and protectg the enjoyment of all human rights by lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) persons, support iativ to provi assistance and redrs for victims of such vlence, civil society and ernmental monorg of s volvg vlence, and trag of law enforcement personnel. Same-sex relatns between men were crimalized 1993, two years after the breakup of the Soviet Unn, and 1999 the Rsian Mistry of Health regnized the standards of the Internatnal Classifitn of Diseas (ICD), which had been revised 1990 to remove a diagnosis for homosexualy.

The harng of negative social attus cis wh the creasg spread of hateful, anti-LGBT rhetoric, cludg by public officials the media, and the promulgatn of regnal and natnal anti-LGBT “gay propaganda” laws that prohib the “promotn” of “nontradnal sexual relatns to mors, ”[12] unrstood to mean the pictn of LGBT people anythg other than a negative light.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

In early 2017, law enforcement and secury officials Chechnya systematilly round up dozens of men spected of beg gay, held them for days secret lotns, and subjected them to huiatn, starvatn, and other torture, forcg them to hand over rmatn about other men who might be gay. On June 30, 2013, Dmry Isakov held a one-mute prott on the central square of Kazan, a cy 800 kilometers east of Mosw, holdg a poster that said: “Beg gay and lovg gays is normal; beatg gays and killg gays is crimal. The missn stated that Neverov had posted on his Vkontake acunt “some pictur (photos) of young men whose appearance (partly nu body parts) had the characteristics of propaganda of homosexual relatns acrdg to the expert opn.

In 2014, for example, one high-level church official said that same-sex relatns should be “pletely elimated” om Rsian society, preferably through “moral persuasn” but if necsary through a public referendum on recrimalizg homosexualy. David O., 18, said, “My teacher once brought up the issue of homosexualy class—[sayg] is personal bs but that she do not support the upbrgg of children such fai bee the child will not be fully happy whout a mother. Nora T., a 17-year-old llege stunt who intifi as pansexual, said that at the school she attend until she was 15-years-old, “The teachers spoke about LGBT people as people who need mental health re and that homosexualism is a mental illns.

RSIA’S ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ LAWS ARE ILLEGAL, EUROPEAN COURT RUL

David O., an 18-year-old gay universy stunt Mosw, scribed to Human Rights Watch how his high school, classmat, due to their lack of tn on sexual orientatn and genr inty, flted to pejorative stereotyp:. While Rsian ernment officials and parliament members claim that the goal of the “gay propaganda” law is to protect children om potentially harmful subject matter, the law directly harms children by nyg them accs to sential rmatn and fosterg stigma agast LGBT children and their fai.

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

Meyer wrote that “the propaganda law do not advance any legimate goal protectg the health of youth bee there is no supportable nnectn between the means (supprsg homosexual propaganda) and the alleged goals (protectg the health of youth). ” He add: “Furthermore, laws such as Rsia’s propaganda law n have ser negative impact on the health and well-beg of homosexual youth and adults that the law creas and enshr stigma and prejudice, leadg to discrimatn and vlence, and, th, creasg risk for mental distrs and suici iatn. Rearch other untri has found that lack of support ntribut to negative mental health out; one study, lbian, gay and bisexual stunts environments wh fewer supports like gay/straight allianc, clive anti-bullyg polici and clive non-discrimatn polici were 20 percent more likely to attempt suici than those more supportive environments.

This psychologist, who has more than a of profsnal experience, explaed that, “In s of fay vlence, when police fd out that boys have been beaten by their parents for beg gay—the police see that as a valid reason for beatg him and don’t take the se serly. Many of the psychologists terviewed by Human Rights Watch said that the “gay propaganda” law had a chillg effect on their abily to unsel clients grapplg wh qutns of sexual orientatn or genr inty. A social worker who ordat referrals to psychologists and ns a support group for LGBT youth said: “In general, even Mosw, the teenagers do not risk raisg this subject [of homosexualy] wh specialists—and I thk they are right to behave that way.

Rsia’s “gay propaganda” laws “rerce stigma and prejudice and enurage homophobia, which is patible wh the notns of equaly, pluralism and tolerance herent a mocratic society, ”[198] as the European Court of Human Rights nclud a 2017 se.

HOW RSIAN PDISHNS PRODUCED AN ANTI-GAY LAW

In addn, as monstrated this report and elsewhere, the “gay propaganda” laws ntribute to vlence and other forms of harassment agast LGBT youth, vlatn of the rights to secury of person and eedom om vlence, the right to health, and the right to tn.