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

Contents:

• VIOS SHOW WISPREAD ABE OF GAYS RSIA, ADVOT SAY
• WNS: BEATEN FOR BEG GAY RSIA -- ANDREY'S STORY
• RSIA: NEW ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN CHECHNYA
• MOSW’S WAR UKRAE BROUGHT HARSH TACTICS AGAST GAY RSIANS AT HOME
• RSIA HOMOPHOBIC MURR: TWO TAED AFTER MAN IS BEATEN AND TORTURED TO ATH ANTI-GAY ATTACK VOLGOGRAD
• BTAL ATTACKS ON RSIAN GAYS REVEALED DOCUMENTARY
• YOUTUBE TAK DOWN ANTI-GAY AD AFTER OUTRAGE RSIA
• VIO DEPICTS HORRIFIC ATTACK ON GAY MAN RSIA
• 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
• LGBT HATE CRIM DOUBLE RSIA AFTER BAN ON 'GAY PROPAGANDA'
• 1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS
• RSIA: SCHOOLBOY JOS ATTACK ON GAY PROTTER MOSW [VIDEO+PHOTOS]
• IN RSIA, VLENT VIOS SHOW A STARTLG NEW FORM OF GAY BULLYG
• MAJORY OF RSIANS BELIEVE GAYS NSPIRG TO STROY UNTRY'S VALU, POLL FDS
• JOURNALIST WHO UNVERED CHECHNYA’S ANTI-GAY PURGE ATTACKED

VIOS SHOW WISPREAD ABE OF GAYS RSIA, ADVOT SAY

Elena Milasha, a proment Rsian journalist who unvered the horrific crackdown on gay men Chechnya, has been beaten up alongsi a lawyer while visg the southern Rsian republic. At the time, one wns who fled Chechnya after beg arrted told CNN that hundreds of gay men like him were beg round up by the thori and held appallg ndns at least three tentn centers.

In rponse, Chechen lear and Kreml-backed strongman Kadyrov said there were no gay people his republic, and that if there were any they should be taken away om the regn.

WNS: BEATEN FOR BEG GAY RSIA -- ANDREY'S STORY

”Over the last two s, Rsian Print Vladimir Put has waged an all-out asslt on the LGBTQ muny, amg as part of a larger mpaign to protect Rsia’s “tradnal culture” om what he scrib as an onslght of morn valu promoted by the has lled genr fluidy “a crime agast humany, ” and equated homosexualy wh pedophilia.

And durg a seri of anti-gay purg Rsia’s Mlim-majory Chechen Republic, which officials kidnapped, tortured and some s killed men spected of havg sex wh other men, the Kreml turned a bld the same time, life for LGBTQ people Ukrae has slowly been, wh tens of thoands of Rsian troops encirclg major Ukraian ci, gay, lbian and transgenr people are worried about what a Rsian takeover might mean for them. (Courty Yura Dvizhon) “If we were unr Rsian le, we’d have to shut our mouths, we wouldn’t be able to drs how we want, we would never have gay pri, ” said Yura Dvizhon, 29, a well-known Ukraian director. (Daniel Leal / AFP via Getty Imag) Ukrae was never a utopia for gays and transgenr people, Dvizhon marriage is illegal Ukrae, LGBTQ people are not protected by anti-discrimatn laws, and the fluential Christian Orthodox Church views homosexualy as a s.

RSIA: NEW ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN CHECHNYA

”While there are still ncrete laws — an anti-discrimatn bill foremost among them — that the natn’s LGBTQ muny is wag for, everybody knows that the suatn for gay people Rsia is “much, much, much worse, ” said Natsya Kosach, a lbian DJ Kyiv.

She believ anti-gay and trans discrimatn has s roots the Orthodox Church but also the Soviet Unn, which broke up Soviet society, nformy was prized. A growg numbers of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people have been attacked and harassed across Rsia  the lead-up and aftermath of Rsia’s June 2013 adoptn of an anti-LGBT “propaganda” law - a law so vague that many Rsians believe outright outlaws homosexualy.

MOSW’S WAR UKRAE BROUGHT HARSH TACTICS AGAST GAY RSIANS AT HOME

Between his youth and easy se, ’s hard to believe what he’s been though - a suici attempt, g out of the closet to iends and fay a untry known for tolerance towards gays, and beg the target of thuggish, extreme Rsian natnalists. “I’m so grateful to all Amerins who fought for gay rights, bee they gave this credible opportuny to get married, somethg we uldn’t even dream of Rsia. 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. (Mosw) – Police Chechnya have rried out a new round of unlawful tentns, beatgs, and huiatn of men they prume to be gay or bisexual, Human Rights Watch said today. The men’s acunts are nsistent wh a crime report filed on January 29 wh Rsia’s chief vtigative agency by the Rsian LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr) Network, a proment LGBT rights group, which stated that December and January, police Grozny, Chechnya’s pal, round up and abed 14 men.

“There wasn’t anythg remotely remblg an effective vtigatn to the anti-gay purge of 2017, when Chechen police round up and tortured dozens of men they spected of beg gay, ” said Rachel Denber, puty Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. The four men Human Rights Watch terviewed said that the police terrogated them unr torture, mandg that they intify other gay men their social circl, some s showg them photographs. Two of the men whose time unlawful tentn overlapped gave closely matchg scriptns of the tentn facily, the other mat, the daily route, the police officials, and the abe flicted on prumably gay ptiv.

RSIA HOMOPHOBIC MURR: TWO TAED AFTER MAN IS BEATEN AND TORTURED TO ATH ANTI-GAY ATTACK VOLGOGRAD

Police also forced several of the prumed gay mat to clean the toilet and wash floors and doors along a rridor, makg clear to them and the other mat that the gay tae were given “women’s work” as a form of huiatn. Activists of the Rsian LGBT Network told Human Rights Watch that based on the rmatn the work received om var sourc and cross-checked, Chechen police taed at least 23 men between December and April bee of their prumed homosexualy.

In November 2018, 16 participatg stat of the Organizatn for Secury and Co-Operatn Europe (OSCE) voked the anizatn’s “Mosw Mechanism” and appoted a rapportr to look to allegatns of ab Chechnya, cludg the anti-gay purge. “Rsian thori should immediately vtigate the new wave of torture and huiatn by the Chechen police of men they believe to be gay and, fally, rry out an effective vtigatn to the purge of 2017, ” Denber said.

On the third day, police brought a gay man, “Khse, ” whom Anzor knew personally, and then yet another prumably gay man, “Rtem, ” whom he did not know. For the first four days, Anzor and the other prumably gay mat the large cell were not allowed to pray wh the other mat, and police would not let them eat or drk.

BTAL ATTACKS ON RSIAN GAYS REVEALED DOCUMENTARY

(Mary Gelman/VII for The Washgton Post) As Rsian Print Vladimir Put steers Rsia toward beg a closed-off, nservative society, led by “tradnal valu” and bound tightly to the Orthodox Church, wh visns of a “Rsian world” opposn to the nt, amoral Wt, the Rsian parliament has expand Mosw’s official discrimatn agast gays and others of non-heterosexual ia of Rsia as a fenr of tradnal Christian beliefs has been ed to jtify Put’s vasn of Ukrae. ”In December, Put signed legislatn makg illegal to promote or “praise” same-sex relatnships, to publicly exprs non-heterosexual orientatns, or to suggt they are “normal” — expandg a 2013 law that prohibed spreadg “gay propaganda” among mors.

YOUTUBE TAK DOWN ANTI-GAY AD AFTER OUTRAGE RSIA

”By ntrast, Ukraian Print Volodymyr Zelensky has opened the door to legalizg same-sex civil unns after the war highlighted a lack of rights and protectns for gay soldiers and their Washgton Post spoke to members of Rsia’s LGBTQ muny to unrstand how the more dranian legislatn has affected their, 21, drag artist“I’ve been dog drag for over two years now, sce I’ve moved to St.

Now, for example, if there are a uple of men or a uple of women stg the dience, we n’t joke on any sexual topics bee this would already qualify as ‘gay propaganda. But thankfully that hasn’t happened day parliament approved the bill the send hearg, I wrote a post on my Telegram blog nouncg this discrimatory and homophobic law. For ee real time breakg news alerts sent straight to your box sign up to our breakg news emailsSign up to our ee breakg news emailsA 23-year-old man has been tortured to ath southern Rsia, what vtigators are llg a homophobic severely beaten, naked body of the as-yet-unnamed victim was found an apartment buildg the southern cy of Volgograd on Saturday, sufferg numero juri and mutilatns.

Two men have been taed nnectn wh the a rare admissn of a hate crime the untry, the spokwoman for the Volgograd regnal branch of the Invtigative Commtee, Natalia Kunskaya, nfirmed murr was believed to be said the victim had been drkg wh two other men celebratn of Victory Day before the attack took place, addg that the spects allegedly started beatg the man he revealed he was gay.

VIO DEPICTS HORRIFIC ATTACK ON GAY MAN RSIA

” She also nfirmed that the man’s penis had been murr amid renewed ncern that creasgly proment far-right groups are fuellg anti-homosexual sentiment untry has repeatedly nied vlatg gay rights, although homophobia is reportedly wispread and often seen as socially acceptable - pecially outsi of Mosw. A natnwi law banng “gay propaganda” among mors is currently beg nsired, wh crics argug s wordg is so vague as to potentially jtify any reprsn of homosexualy. Print Vladimir Put, who pris himself on his macho image and “tradnal” valu, also recently warned that Rsia may change s adoptn agreements wh any untry that legalis gay crimalised homosexualy 1993, after the fall of the Soviet Unn, and only removed om s official list of psychiatric disorrs 1999.

Wednday shows graphic footage of vlent homophobic attacks Rsia the n-up to the Sochi wter documentary’s name, “Hunted, ” om ments by a man who was beaten up and shot durg an attack on a gay muny center St. “The LGBT muny is beg squeezed om the forc above by the ernment that passed the law, by ments om Put, like sayg that gay people are wele Sochi if they leave the children alone… s creatg such a direct nnectn between pedophilia and homosexualy. "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. MILAN, June 3 (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - An onle vio suggtg Rsians back nstutnal reform or see gay upl w adoptn rights was taken down by YouTube on Wednday after LGBT+ groups said ced clip, posted onle this week, shows a boy gog om joy to heartbreak as he disvers his new parents are ad had created an onle furore that experts said uld help garner support for the reform vote, which uld let Print Vladimir Put extend his long plays on ep-seated anti-gay sentiment the untry, where activists say vlence agast gay people has been on the rise sce the adoptn of a 2013 law that banned the dissematn of “gay propaganda” among young heterosexual upl n adopt children Rsia.

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

Deci the future of the untry - vote for amendments to the nstutn, ” a voiceover says, suggtg a vote for Put protects tradnal is to hold a natnwi vote on nstutnal reforms that clu rettg Put’s printial term tally to zero, which uld extend his le until proposed amendment spells out that marriage means a unn between a man and a woman - and nothg two s power, Put has closely aligned himself wh the Orthodox Church and sought to distance Rsia om liberal Wtern valu, cludg attus toward homosexualy and genr vio drew a torrent of cricism.

A vio makg the rounds on social media shows a gay man Rsia beg beaten and raped wh a bottle, by a group of men who wanted him to "repent for his ss, " reports Rad Free Europe/Rad Liberty.

MOSCOW (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Hate crim agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people Rsia have doubled five years, rearchers said on Tuday, the wake of a law banng “gay propaganda”. “(Offenrs) have bee more aggrsive and ls fearful, ” said Svetlana Zakharova, a board member wh Rsian LGBT Network, the untry’s most proment gay rights mpaign group, which has noted the same trend.

LGBT HATE CRIM DOUBLE RSIA AFTER BAN ON 'GAY PROPAGANDA'

Homosexualy Rsia, where the fluence of the socially nservative Orthodox Church has grown recent years, was a crimal offence until 1993 and classed as a mental illns until 1999. Rearchers said the figur are an unrtimate as many hate crim are not reported, vtigated or ‘gay propaganda’ law, which has been ed to stop gay pri march and to ta gay rights activists, is seen by many as a move by Print Vladimir Put to crack down on dissent and draw closer to the Rsian Orthodox was ranked Europe’s send least LGBT-iendly natn 2016 by ILGA-Europe, a work of European LGBT. Nearly 1 5 Rsians want to “elimate” gay and lbian people om society, acrdg to a new survey, a fdg that has ced fear and anger among LGBTQ activists the untry.

1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS

”The survey, published this week by the Levada Center, a nonernmental rearch anizatn based Mosw, also found that 32 percent of rponnts wanted to “isolate” gay men and lbians om society, pared to 9 percent who wanted to “assist” them.

Over the past several years, there have also been a number of disturbg reports of state-sponsored tentn, vlence and torture agast gay and bisexual men Chechnya, a semitonomo Rsian regn“The state giv the signal that LGBT people are not real people, that they are send- or even third-class cizens, ” Zakharova said. ”Dpe reports of creased vlence and the enactment of the “gay propaganda law, ” Kocherga said the suatn has improved over the past three s, when the Soviet Man project first started.

RSIA: SCHOOLBOY JOS ATTACK ON GAY PROTTER MOSW [VIDEO+PHOTOS]

“Thgs om a polil pot of view have bee worse, but still somehow Rsian nscns tri to be better, ” she said, notg that 1989, the survey’s first year, 35 percent of those polled wanted to “elimate” gays and lbians, pared to 18 percent the latt fdgs. “It’s nice to see that actually the willgns to see homosexuals, to accept them, is actually risg, ” Kocherga poted to a separate survey released by the Levada Center last year that found Rsian attus toward LGBTQ people — while still predomantly negative — have improved, pecially among young, ted women. Twenty percent of last year’s participants said they pletely agree that gay men and lbians should have equal rights Rsia, pared to jt 7 percent 2013 when the “gay propaganda law” was passed.

IN RSIA, VLENT VIOS SHOW A STARTLG NEW FORM OF GAY BULLYG

The 2019 data also found that those wh gay and lbian acquatanc have more posive attus toward sexual Zakharova said the suatn for the untry’s lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer muny is ed dire, the Rsian people are “not as homophobic as thori or feral mass media try to portray them. "Spreadg rmatn aimed at formg non-tradnal sexual behavur among children, suggtg this behavur is attractive, and makg a false statement about the socially equal nature of tradnal and non-tradnal relatnships" uld rry a jail legislatn, backed by the Kreml, would also see a ban on gay ralli and make an offence to suggt that gay relatnships were equal to "tradnal", or heterosexual, activists were heavily outnumbered by supporters of the bill, wh around 200-300 sgg Orthodox Christian prayers and chantg "Rsia is not Sodom" at Zheleznyak, a lawmaker of lg Uned Rsia party, said: "Rsia is a untry of tradnal valu, which more than 90 percent of the populatn supports the ban on propaganda of homosexualy among mors.

"There is already enough prsure and vlence agast gays and wh this law will only ntue and probably get worse, " 18-year-old Viktoria Malyasova told Rters.

Other victims were known homosexuals who were forcibly picked up off the stated goal of the vios was to "cure" the young men of their activists say such footage is a sign that homophobia Rsia is not only beg more prevalent, but also more aggrsive. Campaigners blame this on a ntroversial new law outlawg so-lled "homosexual propaganda" that was passed unanimoly by the Rsian State Duma and signed to law by Print Vladimir Put last month. Nikolai Alekseyev, founr of Gay Pri Rsia, believ the law sends the wrong signals to society and the mds of some legimiz vlence agast lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) muni.

MAJORY OF RSIANS BELIEVE GAYS NSPIRG TO STROY UNTRY'S VALU, POLL FDS

"They have received signals om the hight officials the state -- the Duma, the print -- that basilly you n do whatever you want if ncerns gay people bee they are not first-class cizens; they are send-class or even third-class. "Ined, groups like the one Kamensk-Uralsky -- which belongs to a Rsia-wi work operatg unr the banner "Occupy Pedophilia" -- have so far enjoyed almost total impuny for their treatment of homosexuals.

JOURNALIST WHO UNVERED CHECHNYA’S ANTI-GAY PURGE ATTACKED

Members of the group say they see homosexualy and pedophilia as morally Pedophilia was found by Maksim Martskevich, an ultranatnalist who has served a three-year prison sentence for cg ethnic hatred.

30, 2018, 8:39 PM UTCNearly two-thirds of Rsians believe gays are nspirg to subvert the untry’s tradnal valu, acrdg to a recent survey nducted by the state-n Rsian Public Opn Rearch Center. “[The Rsian LGBT Network’s] monorg reports show that this amount grows steadily sce the adoptn of the so-lled [gay] propaganda law adopted 2013, ” she explaed. “This myth of gay people beg imported om somewhere and om dark forc outsi is prevalent, and ’s been there for a long time, ” Kondakov mentned that the mid-20th Century the U.

“In the ‘30s, the [Soviet] ernment was tryg to nvce people for short perds of time that gay people, specifilly gay men, were somehow imported om the Nazis, ” Kondakov said.