No Support: Rsia’s “Gay Propaganda” Law Imperils LGBT Youth | HRW

Contents:

• LAWRENCE LSIG PRINTIAL MPAIGN, 2016/GAY RIGHTS
• LDSEY GRAHAM PRINTIAL MPAIGN, 2016/GAY RIGHTS
• 2016 GAY AVE,GREENSBURG, PA 15601
• GAYLA L LEGGE RALEIGH, AGE 76, FEMALE

LAWRENCE LSIG PRINTIAL MPAIGN, 2016/GAY RIGHTS

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.

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. On June 10, 2013, Yelena Mizula, the thor of the law at the State Duma, the lower chamber of Rsia’s parliament, told reporters that the Deti-404 webse did not nstute “gay propaganda” unr the law.

LDSEY GRAHAM PRINTIAL MPAIGN, 2016/GAY RIGHTS

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.

[11] A 2018 survey by a ernment-n pollg agency found that 63 percent of rponnts believe there is a subversive force workg Rsia to stroy “Rsian valu” through the spreadg of “gay propaganda. 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. 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.

[13] The “gay propaganda” law did not e the purge—Chechnya’s lear has targeted var groups emed “unsirable” for years[14]—but the law did provi some rhetoril jtifitn and polil ver. 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.

2016 GAY AVE,GREENSBURG, PA 15601

A 2018 survey by a ernment-n pollg agency found that 63 percent of rponnts believe there is a subversive force workg Rsia to stroy “Rsian valu” through the spreadg of “gay propaganda. Rsian Orthodox Church lears have ma flammatory public statements about gay people, and the strong and growg fluence of the Rsian Orthodox Church had fueled existg anti-LGBT sentiments. 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.

“I tried to have a nversatn about LGBT [issu] wh my parents, but they were homophobic, and gettg no support [om them] I sort of dropped , ” said Veronika A., a 17-year-old the Astrahan regn. Kirill G., a 16-year-old gay boy, said, “My blogy teacher knew very ltle of LGBT and at tim spewed some nonsense about how ’s ‘agast the laws of nature’ and ‘those people are sick. 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. In some s, our terviewe told teachers sgled stunts out for cricism, tellg them that their clothg, hairstyle, or mannerisms marked them as beg gay, lbian, or transgenr, or simply abnormal.

GAYLA L LEGGE RALEIGH, AGE 76, FEMALE

In addn, after some of the parents of Pyotr’s classmat began to pla that their children should not have to attend school wh a gay stunt, the prcipal threatened to expel Pyotr. 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:.

Sce enactment of the “gay propaganda” law, however, thori have cracked down on onle meetg spac as well as webs that nta rmatn on sexual orientatn or genr inty or sexual health.

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.

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. Other provirs told Human Rights Watch that they were anx about workg wh younger clients bee of a pattern of attempts to ensnare mental health provirs for vlatg the “gay propaganda” law.