No End to Chechnya’s Vlent Anti-Gay Campaign | Human Rights Watch

Contents:

• BTAL VIOS FUEL RSIAN ANTI-GAY MPAIGN
• WHY RSIA IS SO ANTI-GAY
• ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA VIO GO VIRAL RSIA
• RSIA: NEW ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN CHECHNYA
• RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW
• ‘OUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ILLEGAL.’ AS MOSW TOUGHENS ANTI-GAY LAW, LGBTQ RSIANS FEAR FOR THE FUTURE
• ‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA
• NO END TO CHECHNYA’S VLENT ANTI-GAY CAMPAIGN
• LGBT HATE CRIM DOUBLE RSIA AFTER BAN ON 'GAY PROPAGANDA'
• JOURNALIST WHO UNVERED CHECHNYA’S ANTI-GAY PURGE ATTACKED
• PUT’S ANTI-GAY WAR ON UKRAE
• WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT RSIA’S SO-CALLED ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ BILL
• ANTI-GAY VIRAL VIO STIRS OUTRAGE AHEAD OF RSIAN REFERENDUM
• YOUTUBE TAK DOWN ANTI-GAY AD AFTER OUTRAGE RSIA
• THE ORTHODOX CHURCH’S ROLE RSIA’S ANTI-GAY LAWS
• WHY RSIA TURNED AGAST THE GAYS
• ‘THEY STARVE YOU. THEY SHOCK YOU’: INSI THE ANTI-GAY POGROM CHECHNYA
• EXPLAER: WHAT DO NEW ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ LAW MEAN FOR LGBTIQ+ RSIANS?
• INSI RSIA'S ANTI-GAY VIGILANTE ARMY, OCCUPY PEDOPHILIA
• RSIA’S ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN
• SEXUAL INTY, STIGMA, AND DEPRSN: THE ROLE OF THE “ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA LAW” MENTAL HEALTH AMONG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN MOSW, RSIA

BTAL VIOS FUEL RSIAN ANTI-GAY MPAIGN

"Where gays are allowed, pedophilia will soon flourish, " says Rsian Orthodox prit Sergei Rybko a new BBC documentary, "Hunted, " released this month, that explor vlence toward Rsian Rsian Orthodox Church is a major driver of anti-gay public opn, Mikhailova said, but there is a paradox at most untri, religsy is lked to anti-gay attus.

WHY RSIA IS SO ANTI-GAY

The vio is meant to be promotg nstutnal reform, which among other thgs clus the amendment of Article 72 to fe marriage as the “unn between a man and a woman” vio, which sparked ternatnal backlash, is a hypothetil documentary-style vlog set 2035, when Rsia has evintly rejected the proposed nstutnal chang and gay people have been given the right to adopt. 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.

ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA VIO GO VIRAL RSIA

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. ”The anizers had good reason to be wary: Life has been challengg for gay Rsians sce the law passed, as the ernment has treated gay life as a Wtern import that is harmful to tradnal Rsian valu and Rsia’s Parliament is set to pass a legislative package that would ban all “gay propaganda, ” signalg an even more difficult perd ahead for a stigmatized segment of laws would prohib reprentatn of L.

Olenichev said that though the police do not track hate crim agast queer people, he and his lleagu have noticed an crease clients who have suffered inty-based attacks sce rhetoric behd anti-gay laws may have dangero nsequenc for gay Rsians, said Vladimir Komov, a lawyer wh the group Delo 2013 law was promoted as protectg children, while the new on “seek to prohib gay propaganda as a danger to the state system, ” fg as extremism, he Lunchenkov said the proposed laws uld leave gay people “aaid to go to medil clics to get treatment or ttg” for sexually transmted diseas.

Rsia’s parliament has passed the third and fal readg of a law banng “LGBT propaganda” among all adults, as Mosw ramps up s nservative ph at home amid the war Ukrae that passed the ne-month mark on bill crimalis any act regard as an attempt to promote what Rsia lls “non-tradnal sexual relatns” – film, onle, advertisg or public – and expands on a notor 2013 law that banned “propaganda of nontradnal sexual relatns” among mors and was ed to ta gay rights the new law, dividuals n be fed up to 400, 000 roubl (£5, 400) and anisatns 5m roubl (£68, 500) for “propagandisg nontradnal sexual relatns”, while foreigners uld face up to 15 days’ arrt and expulsn om rights groups and LGBTQ+ activists say the extensn of the law means any act or public mentn of same-sex relatnships is functnally beg Rsian print, Vladimir Put, is expected to sign the bill the g the start of the war Ukrae, the Kreml has lnched a h effort to promote “tradnal valu”, wh the Rsian lear makg anti-gay rhetoric one of the rnerston of his polil a recent speech, Put acced the wt of “movg towards open satanism”, cg the promotn of gay and transgenr rights Europe as an example.

RSIA: NEW ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN CHECHNYA

”Kochetkov said the bill was also an attempt by the Kreml to look for ternal enemi and distract attentn om battlefield past newsletter promotnafter newsletter promotnHuman rights crics fear the law will be ed to close down pennt film and book ftivals, makg the topic of gay sexual orientatn sentially taboo Rsia.

Kochetkov’s LGBT Network, wh a number of other human rights groups, has also received the “foreign agent” label, a Soviet-era tag signed to target groups the thori say receive “foreign fundg” and engage “polil activy” while the Rsian ernment has expand s attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, recent pollg has dited parts of Rsian society are beg more tolerant towards the gay muny, wh a 2019 poll showg that 68% of younger Rsians view the LGBTQ+ muny as “normal” July, Daria Kasatka, Rsia’s hight-ranked female tennis player, me out as gay, a move appld by fellow athlet and parts of the Rsian public. 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. 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.

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.

RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW

Siarly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe observed 2013 that “gay propaganda” laws “are at variance wh eedom of exprsn and the prohibn of discrimatn on acunt of sexual orientatn and genr inty [and] risk legimisg the prejudice and hostily which is prent society and fuellg a climate of hatred agast LGBT people. It is th not clear om the se law applyg the provisns, whether the terms “prohibn of homosexual propaganda” have to be terpreted rtrictively, or whether they ver any rmatn or opn favour of homosexualy, any attempt to change the homophobic attu on the part of the populatn towards gays and lbians, any attempt to unterbalance the sometim eply rooted prejudic, by dissematg unbiased and factual rmatn on sexual orientatn.

Rsia, the European Court on Human Rights asssed whether a ban on pri march and other public monstratns by LGBT activists was jtifiable on the basis that protected children om harm, ncludg, “There is no scientific evince or soclogil data at the Court’s disposal suggtg that the mere mentn of homosexualy, or open public bate about sexual mori’ social stat, would adversely affect children.... This re obligatn clus the obligatn to repeal laws—such as Rsia’s “gay propaganda” laws—that “obstct or unrme accs by dividuals or a particular group” to sexual and reproductive health rmatn, [289] and to ensure that everybody has “accs to prehensive tn and rmatn on sexual and reproductive health that are non-discrimatory, non-biased, evince-based, and that take to acunt the evolvg paci of children and adolcents.

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

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.

”Related stori on TakePart:• Heartbreakg Vio Imag the Sochi Olympics for Gay Athlet• Gay Athlet Praise Obama's Refal to Attend Olympics Rsia• 5 Ways the Sochi Olympics Are Terrible for Human Rights• Sochi Mayor: We Do Not Have Gay People—'TakePart Live' Discsn• 5 Ways to Show Your Support for LGBT Rights at the Sochi OlympicsOrigal article om TakePart.

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

Such a moral mappg fluenced the nservative genr polics of the 1930s Stal regime, when the Communists retroduced the ban on sodomy (which had been lifted after the 1917 revolutn) and explicly picted homosexualy as a secury threat the form of unrground, pro-Hler works of homosexuals—Healey lls the nservative turn unr Stal the “birth of morn Rsian polil homophobia.

The 1950s gay panic the Uned Stat, when accatns of homosexualy beme a smear tactic Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist csa and homosexuals were barred om servg the feral admistratn as they were seen as potential Soviet spi, has obv siari to how LGBT movements today’s Rsia are scribed as a fifth lumn planted by the Wt.

NO END TO CHECHNYA’S VLENT ANTI-GAY CAMPAIGN

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. 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.

Image source, RtersThe ntroversial Rsian ban agast promotg so-lled "gay propaganda" looks set to be extend to all move reprents a tougheng of an existg 2013 law, which mak providg rmatn about beg LGBT to children a crimal nvicted face large f for promotg what Rsia lls "non-tradnal sexual relatns" ial approval of the extensn was voted through by the Rsian State Duma unanimoly. Khshte, an MP om Mr Put's Uned Rsia Party, told the Duma that the "special operatn" - what the Rsian ernment sists on llg s war Ukrae - is happeng "not only on the battlefield, but also the mds and souls of people" rhetoric follows that of the Rsian print, who has ma beg anti-gay a rnerstone of his domtic agenda and thorarian speech annexg four Ukraian terrori last month, Mr Put ranted about fai wh a "parent number one and a parent number two" - what has been terpreted as a cricism of same-sex fai.

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

Rsian society remaed wily homophobic, and there were many who saw gays and lbians as an evable and evil Wtern import, but there were other thgs to worry about — reverg om the llapse of a polil-enomic system, clawg out of poverty, alg wh the explosn of vlence that engulfed a untry sudnly flowg wh sh and then me Vladimir spent the first two terms of his princy, om 2000 to 2008, lg wh no iology. Brish gold medal-wng diver Tom Daley, who is gay, and a transgenr woman weightlifter om New Zealand, Lrel Hubbard, were particularly targeted on Rossiya 26 July edn of the 60 Mut programme was pecially rife wh of the panellists, Alexei Zhuravlyov, who is a member of the Rsian parliament, said he was "disgted" by gay and transgenr people. "Spirual and moral valu which some untri have started to fet have ma stronger, and we will always fend them, " Print Vladimir Put said this year's state-of-the-natn ptn, Ben Steele: "It was hard spendg time wh people who hate so much"March support of gay rights are routely broken up by police and their participants harassed by thori and anti-gay has particularly been cricised for s "gay propaganda" law, which bans the "propaganda of non-tradnal sexual relatnships to mors" Rights Watch scribed as "a classic example of polil homophobia" which "targets vulnerable sexual and genr mori for polil ga" years ago, Print Put fend his ernment's attu to members of the LGBT muny as "very level-head, absolutely lm".

MOSCOW, Sept 25 (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Receivg photos of mutilated bodi wh the warng “you’re next” rattled gay rights activist Nika Toov but when he saw surveillance men outsi his home, he fled Rsia for threats via social media me om Pila - Rsian for “saw” - a homophobic group which has said was behd the fatal stabbg July of an LGBT+ activist whose name was among a dozen on their wily-circulated assassatn “blacklist”.

JOURNALIST WHO UNVERED CHECHNYA’S ANTI-GAY PURGE ATTACKED

Although the police did not treat the murr as a hate crime ially, they promised to vtigate whether Pila had anythg to do wh Grigoryeva’s ath after plats om lbian gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT+) rights - which tak s name om the “Saw” Amerin horror movi - is the latt threat to shake the LGBT+ muny Rsia, where homosexualy was emed a crimal offence until 1993 and classed as a mental illns until 1999.

Vlence agast gay people and hostily om the wir muny has been on the rise sce 2013 when the Kreml adopted a gay “propaganda” law as part of a drive to fend what Print Vladimir Put lled Rsia’s “tradnal valu” mpaigners say the law has helped thori crack down on activists and ntributed to a rise anti-LGBT+ hate crim as well as police reluctance to vtigate Rsian LGBT Network, which offers legal aid to gay people, said only eight out of 64 s of physil vlence agast LGBT+ people that received 2018 were vtigated by the police headquarters, Kreml spokman Dmry Pkov and human rights missner Tatyana Moskalkova did not rpond to requts for ment. His acunt of the ceptn ed to ta him was nsistent wh others documented by Human Rights Watch and wh the acunts of the two other gay men terviewed separately for this six of the men the apartment were transferred to a makhift cell an abandoned buildg, where they were tortured wh electricy one by one, Maksim 11 days, he was released to a male relative, who was told that Maksim was gay. “The people don’t tst anybody, ” said Olga Baranova, director of the Mosw Communy Center, a support group for gays that is part of the volunteer work helpg gay men flee arrivg at the safe lotn outsi Chechnya, several young men said they had spected that the volunteer group was also a trap but had no other optn but to accept the help, Ms.

PUT’S ANTI-GAY WAR ON UKRAE

Rsia’s so-lled ‘gay propaganda’ law has banned the promotn of “non-tradnal sexual valu” to unr-18s sce, the Rsian parliament has passed an expand versn of the law that outlaws all mentns of LGBTIQ-related topics the media – cludg film, televisn, advertisg, onle and ’s what you need to history of Rsia’s ‘gay propaganda’ lawOn 29 June 2013, Rsian print Vladimir Put signed a new law lled “On the propaganda of non-tradnal sexual relatns among mors”. The new law banned the promotn to children of “dgs, paedophilia and homosexualy” – or anythg else the Kreml ems ntradictory to “tradnal fay valu”, although the law do not fe what those valu are some siari wh the UK’s homophobic Sectn 28 legislatn, which prohibed the “promotn of homosexualy” by lol thori and was force om 1988 to Put claims that the propaganda law “do not discrimate agast gay people”, both the European Court of Human Rights and the UN’s Human Rights Commtee have said that rerc stigma, enurag homophobia and harms children the ’s new? But now unr the new law, the s may shut down a , LGBTIQ rights groups and other non-ernmental anisatns receivg funds om abroad have also been legally required to self-intify as “foreign agents” echo the Natnal Secury bill proposed by nservative MP Pri Patel, which would make an offence for journalists or publitns receivg fundg om a foreign state to report on ‘rtricted’ official ’s Mistry of Jtice add the Rsian LGBT Network a proment gay and transgenr rights umbrella group, to the “foreign agent” registry November last then, an creasg number of LGBTIQ rights groups have been targeted – and even forcibly closed.

Followg the troductn of the first versn of the ‘gay propaganda’ law almost a ago, the most flagrant vlatns of LGBTIQ rights have been documented the North Cs, pecially Chechnya, where secury forc have illegally taed, kidnapped, arrted, tortured and killed gay and transgenr 2021, 78% of rponnts to a natnwi survey by the Rsian LGBT Network reported that they had faced vlence or discrimatn nnectn to their genr inty and/or sexual orientatn. "When the Stal anti-homosexual law was repealed 1993, there was no amnty for those still stg prison for sodomy, " wrote history profsor Dan Healey, an expert on homosexualy Rsia, on the 90s, Rsians have faced credible enomic turmoil, a loss of public servic many areas, and wispread rptn -- all factors that be to rerce negative stereotyp.

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

"To the gree that a given society that is secure about s polil, social, enomic, and ung cultural inty, will mask that secury wh a swaggerg show of genred strength, " said Yvonne Howell, a Rsian profsor at the Universy of 16 percent of Rsians today say homosexualy should be accepted by society, pared wh 42 percent nearby (and also formerly munist) Poland. Analysis of HIV-fected MSM found that over one-third have reported symptomology ditive of probable prsn and more than half of MSM Mosw have reported hazardo or harmful levels of alhol abe that may be related to prsn [7] settgs, rearch among MSM has shown that homophobia and social stigma may ntribute to prsn [8].

While ls is known om the Rsian Feratn, rearch om siar epimlogic settgs Central Asia has provid some sight, monstratg that even where homosexualy has been crimalized, stigmatizatn of homosexualy persists [9], and MSM who regularly practice the receptive role durg anal terurse experience creased levels of stigma [10]. Petersburg (March 2012) that would fe dividuals up to 500, 000 bl (approximately $17, 000 USD) for spreadg “homosexual propaganda, ” as well as other related legislatn multiple oblasts (admistrative divisns) across the Rsian Feratn, and a wily praised draft law neighborg Ukrae (October 2012) that would impose up to 5 years imprisonment for spreadg “propaganda of homosexualy [19].

Measur of sexual inty and practic were adapted om the US CDC’s Natnal Health Behavr Survey [31] and clud qutns about sexual inty (“heterosexual, ” “homosexual, ” “bisexual, ” or “other”) and about the sex of the rponnt’s sexual partners the last 12 months (male or female) CES-D sle [32] was ed as a screeng tool for current (past 7 days) prsive symptomology (Cronbach’s α 0. The tegory for participatn the survey after the passage of the law is also clive of other key time perds that signify the terratg climate for LGBT populatns, cludg the passage of the draft Ukrae law that received wi support and discsn Rsia (October 2012) and the date when the anti-gay propaganda law was troduced to the Rsian Parliament (January 2013) [38].

ANTI-GAY VIRAL VIO STIRS OUTRAGE AHEAD OF RSIAN REFERENDUM

aAdjted mol clus e, marriage to a woman, sexual inty, fort wh sexual preference, number of sexual partners, experience of stigma, social nnectedns to gay space, alhol e, history of tentn jail or prison, date of takg survey, and time-stigma teractnPrr to cludg the teractn between time and experienced stigma the multivariable mol, the adjted odds of prsn for those who were surveyed after the signg of the St.

YOUTUBE TAK DOWN ANTI-GAY AD AFTER OUTRAGE RSIA

The protective relatnship between bisexual inty and prsn ntradicts the general body of rearch, which predomantly origat om the USA, that has monstrated creased risk for poor mental health out wh bisexual inty and siarly high risk for poor social wellbeg pared to those who intify as homosexual or heterosexual [22] reason for this surprisg discrepancy may be the ntext of creasg and state-sanctned homophobia Rsia.

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH’S ROLE RSIA’S ANTI-GAY LAWS

WHY RSIA TURNED AGAST THE GAYS

‘THEY STARVE YOU. THEY SHOCK YOU’: INSI THE ANTI-GAY POGROM CHECHNYA

EXPLAER: WHAT DO NEW ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ LAW MEAN FOR LGBTIQ+ RSIANS?

INSI RSIA'S ANTI-GAY VIGILANTE ARMY, OCCUPY PEDOPHILIA

RSIA’S ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN

SEXUAL INTY, STIGMA, AND DEPRSN: THE ROLE OF THE “ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA LAW” MENTAL HEALTH AMONG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN MOSW, RSIA