'We're not hidg': Gay and lbian Rsians say a cultural shift is unrway

Contents:

• ‘OUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ILLEGAL.’ AS MOSW TOUGHENS ANTI-GAY LAW, LGBTQ RSIANS FEAR FOR THE FUTURE
• 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
• PUT’S ANTI-GAY WAR ON UKRAE
• ‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA

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

In December 2022, Rsia expand s existg “gay propaganda” law to exert ntrol over public discsns and narrativ surroundg non-heterosexual relatnships and inti.

“This legislatn is the latt a strg of asslts on the rights of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people, this time unr the bric of state-ced transphobia. “First Rsia tried to erase lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr inti om public view, and now they are targetg transgenr people themselv, ” Reid said.

“Rsia should reverse s outrageo policy and ensure rights to inty, fay life, and medil re for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people – startg wh reversg the anti-trans law. "Last December, Rsian Print Vladimir Put signed a law expandg rtrictns on the promotn of "LGBT propaganda", effectively banng gay, lbian and genr-diverse people om any public exprsn of their liftyle. Earlier legislatn has been ed for years to stop gay pri march and ta mt pass three readgs the State Duma lower hoe of parliament before beg sent to the upper hoe and then to Print Vladimir Put for signg.

'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY

But they fear a harsh new anti-gay law passed by Rsian lawmakers will leave them ltle choice. 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. “As an thor of books that raise [the LGBTQ] topic, of urse, I am very ncerned about this, ” gay wrer Ksenia told CNN.

PUT’S ANTI-GAY WAR ON UKRAE

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.

It banned, quote, "propaganda of homosexualy and pedophilia among mors. And particularly where that base of support is close to relig views, there is a lot of crossover there that works for polil opportunists who are g official forms of homophobia to fe their polil That is Dan Healey, profsor of Rsian history at the Universy of Oxford. Print Vladimir Put has repeatedly portrayed the acceptance of gay and transgenr people Wtern untri as evince of moral y.

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

The abbreviatn LGBT+ stands for Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, Queer and other people, whose sexual orientatn, genr inty or genr exprsn do not f to the so-lled “nventnal” tegori. This clus a society which gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, and all other people n participate whout fear of discrimatn. In 2013, the Kreml adopted the first legislatn rtrictg LGBTQ+ rights, known as the “gay propaganda” law that banned any public endorsement of “nontradnal sexual relatns” among mors.

Earlier legislatn has been ed for years to stop gay pri march and ta activists. Multiple discrimatory laws have been passed sce, startg wh 2013 legislatn rtrictg LGBTQ+ rights known as the "gay propaganda" law, which banned any public endorsement of "nontradnal sexual relatns" among the vasn of Ukrae last year, Rsian thori ratcheted up their rhetoric, methodilly weedg out anythg they emed a "gradg Wtern fluence, " cludg rights groups that advoted anythg om helpg domtic abe victims to prervg rerds of Soviet 2022, the origal law targetg "gay propaganda" was expand to ver adults, outlawg any posive or even ntral reprentatn of LGBTQ+ people the public sphere, movi, lerature or media, forcg the already rare number of LGBTQ+-iendly spac to executive director of the Inpennt Psychiatric Associatn of Rsia, Lyubov Vogradova, lled the law "misanthropic" ments to the Rsian newspaper Kommersant late June. The law propos to ban all Rsians om promotg or “praisg” homosexual relatnships or publicly suggtg that they are “normal.

The ntroversial law was met wh cricism and ridicule Wtern untri, cludg a lg the European Court of Human Rights 2017 that stated Rsia’s “gay propaganda law” is discrimatory, promot homophobia and vlat the European Conventn on Human Rights. The Kreml has nstcted a pernic iology of homophobia as geopolics. The realy is that the Kreml has nstcted a pernic iology of homophobia as geopolics, and official Rsian rhetoric the war Ukrae is amed as the ntuatn of this polics by other means.