'Our mere existence is illegal.' As Mosw toughens anti-gay law, LGBTQ Rsians fear for the future | CNN

Contents:

• ‘OUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ILLEGAL.’ AS MOSW TOUGHENS ANTI-GAY LAW, LGBTQ RSIANS FEAR FOR THE FUTURE
• SIX IAS ABOUT RSIA'S ANTI-GAY LAWS
• RSIA’S ANTI-GAY ‘PROPAGANDA LAW’ ASSLT ON EEDOM OF EXPRSN
• WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT RSIA’S SO-CALLED ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ BILL
• ‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA
• RSIA NOT ONLY COUNTRY WH ANTI-GAY LAWS
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

‘OUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ILLEGAL.’ AS MOSW TOUGHENS ANTI-GAY LAW, LGBTQ RSIANS FEAR FOR THE FUTURE

As the Kreml prepared to falize the expansn of the 2013 discrimatory anti-gay law, members of the LGBTQ muny Rsia told CNN they feared the uncerta future ahead. The measur clu g private acunts on social media, havg accs to a work of tsted people, sendg their son to a private krgarten where the fact a kid has two moms is ls likely to spark a homophobic reactn, and g a private hospal where they n ls risk of a doctor llg child protectn thori to make quiri about their fay set-up, they said. Sce the first law on “gay propaganda” passed 2013, Rsia has seen repeated crackdowns on the gay muny, most notably 2017 and aga 2019 the southern regn of Chechnya, where activists reported dozens of men and women were taed and some tortured and killed for their sexual orientatn, and no proper vtigatn followed.

“This is not only an anti-gay law, this is also explicly an anti-trans law, ” said Vanya Solovey, an advocy and program officer for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the trans rights group Transgenr Europe, referencg the part of the package that forbids the promotn of rmatn that uld e people to want to change their genr assigned at birth. And many North Ameri and Europe are llg for boytts agast the upg Sochi Wter Olympics and Stolichnaya Vodka prott of Rsia’s creasgly reprsive anti-gay culture. The kds of laws banng homosexual propaganda have been poppg up for que a long time now different Rsian regns-- I thk there are 10 such bans-- this latt one jt took to a new level: ’s now a feral law and Put has actually signed .

SIX IAS ABOUT RSIA'S ANTI-GAY LAWS

And yet I thk that’s also exactly what’s gog on here: s anti-gay movement really is a liberate statement of Rsian difference om the Wt and om Europe. Sochi is upon , and there are very real qutns about what the anti-gay polici mean for the Olympics, what they mean for athlet, what they mean for gay athlet and what they mean for advertisers.

For example, if part of this anti-gay sentiment is reactn to the Wt, then ’s unclear to me how folks lobbyg om the Wt or llg for Olympic boytts is actually gog to help. The European Court of Human Rights led 2017 that the 2013 law is discrimatory, promot homophobia and vlat the European Conventn on Human Rights.

The urt found that the law “served no legimate public tert, ” rejectg suggtns that public bate on LGBT issu uld fluence children to bee homosexual, or that threatened public morals. Speakg before Put signed the bill to the law on Monday, Tanya Loksha, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch said: “The 2013 ‘gay propaganda’ law was an unabashed example of polil homophobia, and the new draft legislatn amplifi that broar and harsher ways.

RSIA’S ANTI-GAY ‘PROPAGANDA LAW’ ASSLT ON EEDOM OF EXPRSN

In December 2022, Rsia expand s existg “gay propaganda” law to exert ntrol over public discsns and narrativ surroundg non-heterosexual relatnships and inti. Rsia’s Parliament has backed a bill which outlaws the “propaganda of homosexualy among mors” a move that will rtrict fundamental human rights and is breach of the untry’s ternatnal obligatns to protect lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) people om discrimatn, Amnty Internatnal said today.

The law would make the “promotn of homosexualy among mors” an admistrative offence feral law, wh f of up to 500, 000 roubl (US$ 16, 200).

Petersburg who left Rsia after his parents threatened to sue his therapist who backed him receivg hormone therapy; and Ivan, 18, who is gay, half Rsian and half Ukraian, and “didn’t want to kill people. “My parents are very nservative and they don’t believe gay people should exist, ” said Max, who didn’t disclose his last name for fear of retaliatn agast his parents who live St. Most of his iends are the closet or fled the untry — and many of them, he said, were vlently attacked by anti-gay groups before they left.

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

A survey published 2020 by Mosw-based non-ernmental rearch anizatn the Levada Center, found that about 30% of Rsians wanted to isolate gay people om society. Although is not illegal to be an LGBTQ+ person Rsia, a ago the Kreml passed a so-lled “gay propaganda law” banng the distributn of rmatn about gay relatnships among mors. The AHA clus the ath sentence for some nsensual same-sex acts, prohibs anizatns om “normalizg” sexual diversy through clive programmg and requir everyone Uganda, cludg health workers, to report people who might be lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or queer (LGBTQ) to the police.

” Bee the law, the Anti-Homosexualy Act, 2023, stat that anyone who has rmatn that a person has mted or tends to m an offense “shall report the matter to the police for appropriate actn, ” health provirs are still required by law to turn LGBTQ patients. On June 7, durg his State of the Natn addrs, Print Yoweri Meveni reerated the claims the health circular: “Therefore, those who say that the homosexuals will be arrted if they go for medil re, etc., are wrong. Human Rights Council June, when qutned about the Anti-Homosexualy Act and the human rights vlatns prcrib, the Deputy Permanent Reprentative of Uganda to the U.

Office Geneva, Arthur Kafeero, claimed that the act was a rponse to “a wispread mpaign to promote homosexualy amongst children schools was disvered” and that “s methods and ntent too difficult and graphic to expla.

‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA

The statements make clear that the ernment of Uganda is not an hont broker s engagement wh the ternatnal muny around the Anti-Homosexualy Act.

In July 2014, five months after the enactment of the prev Anti-Homosexualy Act, Uganda’s Mistry of Foreign Affairs issued a siar statement tend to appease donors. While not specific to health, asserted that the AHA was “misterpreted” by velopment partners, that only tend to prevent the “open promotn of homosexualy, pecially among children and vulnerable groups”; that “no activi of dividuals, groups, pani or anizatns” would be affected by the AHA; and that the ernment was mted to the provisn of servic to all Uganda, whout discrimatn.

RSIA NOT ONLY COUNTRY WH ANTI-GAY LAWS

I was part of a Human Rights Watch and Amnty Internatnal team that vtigated vlence and discrimatn the wake of the Anti-Homosexualy Act.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

• June 10: Followg the arrt of two gay men his area, the client, who is a [key populatns] ordator at a ernment health facily, was threatened wh vlence by their lleagu at work and people the muny, who said he was rponsible for the actns of the two who had been arrted bee he was always the one supportg them and givg them treatment.