Rsian lawmakers propose extendg 'gay propaganda' law to all adults | Rters

Contents:

• RSIAN LGBT ACTIVIST KILLED AFTER BEG LISTED ON ‘SAW’-INSPIRED GAY HUNTG SE
• RSIAN LAWMAKERS PROPOSE EXTENDG 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW TO ALL ADULTS
• RSIAN LAWMAKERS PROPOSE EXTENDG 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW TO ALL ADULTS
• LGBT ACTIVISTS, ANTIGAY PROTTERS CLASH ST. PETERSBURG, RSIA

RSIAN LGBT ACTIVIST KILLED AFTER BEG LISTED ON ‘SAW’-INSPIRED GAY HUNTG SE

Petersburg-based Rsian LGBT Network is known for leadg actns agast the untry’s anti-LGBTQ polici and actns, cludg Chechnya’s anti-gay purge, which started makg ternatnal headl 2017, and the untry’s 2013 “gay propaganda” law, which prohibs the “promotn of nontradnal sexual relatns to mors.

The young woman who only intified herself to Dimrov by the name Elena said that sce the latt passage of laws cludg expansn of the Rsia’s “gay propaganda” law to clu adults last December, upled wh the crackdown by the Rsian Feral Service for Supervisn of Communitns, Informatn Technology and Mass Media, abbreviated as Roskomnadzor, on any webs and on popular phone apps that ter to LGBTQ people, she has now begun efforts earnt to leave the untry. In addn, “we mt not fet that by changg the sex of one of the partners, a homosexual uple gets the right to adopt a child. Facg lol hostily, overt mov by the ernment to halt their event, and a persistent shroud of secrecy for gays and lbians their untry, anizers of Rsia’s first queer film ftival fought to stage their event this weekend even as they were ridiculed the media.

In early January of this year, I was ntacted by the anizers of Si By Si for advice on a lbian and gay film ftival they were planng St. Ira Sergeeva and Manny Guerre nceived of Si By Si as a cultural LGBT event, an alternative to the secretive and unrground gay bar scene the nservative untry, and as a means to spread unrstandg between the LGBT and mastream muni.

RSIAN LAWMAKERS PROPOSE EXTENDG 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW TO ALL ADULTS

While homosexualy was crimalized 1993 and removed om the registry of mental disorrs 1999, prejudice and open tolerance are a legacy om the former Soviet Unn, makg open, public exprsns of LGBT inty and muny extremely difficult.

This was evinced recent years Mosw, when attempts to anize a gay pri para were met wh physil aggrsn and vlence, and me to the foreont aga this past week, when St. Cur to see what LGBT life was like St Petersburg, our Amerin-based Rsian iend Alex quickly rearched onle what gay nightlife might have to offer.

Regnizg the Cyrillic spellg “OMOH” on his uniform the mirror, I noted that police here were lerally anti-HOMO.

RSIAN LAWMAKERS PROPOSE EXTENDG 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW TO ALL ADULTS

Aschenneller likened the environment for LGBT ncerns Rsia to that found former Soviet Bloc untri like Poland, notg that public ristance there to gay pri paras eventually gave way after perseverance by anizers. Petersburg’s secretive BEARsBURG society — a morn Rsian rnatn of a gay sub-group which origally veloped the Uned Stat toward the end of the 1970s as a reactn agast effemate stereotyp of queer men.

It’s a party behd an unmarked door a untry that has seen hate crim agast the LGBT muny crease sce the 2013 troductn of a law banng “gay propaganda among mors. Petersburg’s gay scene through social and cultural events. Msagg apps like Telegram have provid new ways for Rsian gay men to build such works, as well-n group chats n create a sense of togetherns and clivy.

LGBT ACTIVISTS, ANTIGAY PROTTERS CLASH ST. PETERSBURG, RSIA

Sce the troductn of the 2013 “gay propaganda” law, the Kreml has pursued an anti-LGBT agenda through laws that have rced LGBT visibily and enuraged the harng of anti-LGBT sentiment the wir populatn. Sce 2020, the nstutn specifi that marriage is a unn between a man and a woman, effectively banng gay marriage.

In 2013, Rsia passed legislatn banng the spreadg of what scribed as gay ptn, The BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports on the vlent clash between gay rights mpaigners and anti-gay activists outsi the Rsian parliamentMore on this story.