Young mothers Yana and Yaroslava don’t want to leave Rsia wh their 6-year-old son. But they fear a harsh new anti-gay law passed by Rsian lawmakers will leave them ltle choice.
Contents:
- RUSSIA: ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ LAW REMAS PLACE, BUT PLATS AGAST NTUE
- ‘OUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ILLEGAL.’ AS MOSW TOUGHENS ANTI-GAY LAW, LGBTQ RSIANS FEAR FOR THE FUTURE
- ANTI-GAY VIRAL VIO STIRS OUTRAGE AHEAD OF RSIAN REFERENDUM
- ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA VIO GO VIRAL RSIA
RUSSIA: ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ LAW REMAS PLACE, BUT PLATS AGAST NTUE
SummaryIn 2013 Rsia enacted a feral law prohibg what lled “gay propaganda”, g the protectn of children as an exce to silence any public discsns or posive msag about LGBT issu. BackgroundRsia’s first “gay propaganda” law was brought to force an admistrative regn not far outsi of Mosw 2006. Ostensibly foced on the “Protectn of the Moraly of Children”, the law the Ryazan Oblast prohibed “public actns aimed at propaganda of homosexualy (sodomy or lbianism) among mors”.
It was amend to make an offence to take part “the promotn of homosexualy among mors” 2008, jtified by cg the myth that gay men plan to “rec” young people to beg homosexual. The laws me to force at a time when openly homophobic rhetoric was risg Rsia, and LGBT rights anisatns have sce lked their adoptn Rsia to an crease vlence agast LGBT people and a crease protectn for LGBT people om the 2013 the untry’s children’s missner went so far as to say that protectn of the “tradnal fay” was a matter of natnal secury, and that policians who opposed this prry should be “cursed for centuri as stroyers of the fay and the human race”.
Settg up a picket outsi a sendary school he unfurled two banners proclaimg: “Homosexualy is normal” and “I am proud of my homosexualy”. One claimed that a lack of rmatn about LGBT rights ntributed to Rsia havg the world’s hight teenage suici rate, while the other listed a number of proment Rsian public figur believed to be gay.
‘OUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ILLEGAL.’ AS MOSW TOUGHENS ANTI-GAY LAW, LGBTQ RSIANS FEAR FOR THE FUTURE
Like Bayev, they had travelled to stage a prott that would potentially see them fed unr the regn’s “gay propaganda” law, the hop that they would be able to succsfully ntt eher their f or the nstutnaly of the laws themselv. This challenge was readily were arrted and fed, and Alekseyev was fed aga 2012 while prottg another “gay propaganda” law St Petersburg, after holdg a sign which read “Homosexualy is not a perversn. ”Knowg that Rsian urts had prevly taken to acunt lgs of Uned Natns bodi, Bartenev had also referred to a 2012 Human Rights Commtee cisn which Ryazan Oblast’s “gay propaganda” law was found to have vlated a prottor’s right to eedom of exprsn.
The judg led that Rsia had failed to monstrate how eedom of exprsn on LGBT issu would adversely affect “tradnal fai” and said the European Court would not beg to endorse polici “which embodied a predisposed bias on the part of a heterosexual majory agast a homosexual mory”. The urt nmned Rsia’s attempts to draw parallels between homosexualy and paedophilia and argued that, fact, the prentatn of objective rmatn about sex and genr inty should be nsired an dispensable part of public-health policy. Fally, the urt dismissed the ernment’s allegatns that children uld be enticed to a “homosexual liftyle” on the grounds that there was no evince at all to that effect.
The lg ultimately found that Rsia’s “gay propaganda” law was open to abe dividual s and rerced stigma and prejudice agast LGBT people.
ANTI-GAY VIRAL VIO STIRS OUTRAGE AHEAD OF RSIAN REFERENDUM
Between 2013 and 2015 Moldova, Ukrae and Lhuania eher abolished or whdrew siar “gay propaganda”-style legislatn, markg a move away om discrimatn the “gay propaganda” law ntu to be ed Rsia, more challeng to are ntug to e forward. After appealg agast a nvictn for sharg “gay propaganda” he was shocked to see his sentence reversed.
The European Court of Human Rights led 2017 that the 2013 law is discrimatory, promot homophobia and vlat the European Conventn on Human Rights.
ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA VIO GO VIRAL 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. Homosexualy was crimalized Rsia 1993, but homophobia and discrimatn is still rife.
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. But they fear a harsh new anti-gay law passed by Rsian lawmakers will leave them ltle choice.