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:
- GAY TIKTOK UPLE ARRTED RSIA
- IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY RSIA? DOCUMENTG RSIA’S ANTI-LGBTQ LAWS
- ‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA
- 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
- ‘OUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ILLEGAL.’ AS MOSW TOUGHENS ANTI-GAY LAW, LGBTQ RSIANS FEAR FOR THE FUTURE
GAY TIKTOK UPLE ARRTED RSIA
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.
IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY RSIA? DOCUMENTG RSIA’S ANTI-LGBTQ LAWS
“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. "Advot say the ban has been over a the December, Put signed a law expandg rtrictns on the promotn of "LGBT propaganda, " effectively banng any public exprsn of their liftyle by lbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenr people Rsia. Earlier legislatn has been ed for years to stop gay pri march, ta activists, and, many LGBTQ Rsians say, stil a culture of fear among those who live what the Kreml lls "non-tradnal liftyl".
‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA
"Rsia has allowed genr chang on IDs sce 1997, four years after crimalised homosexualy. The European Court of Human Rights led 2017 that the 2013 law is discrimatory, promot homophobia and vlat the European Conventn on Human Rights.
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. It banned, quote, "propaganda of homosexualy and pedophilia among mors.
'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
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.
As a gay man a untry that ma anti-gay iology a foundatn of s anti-Ukrae propaganda, he feared for his life every day. In his seven years as a gay activist, Maysky has never seen Rsian-speakg LGBTQ+ immigrants g to California such great numbers.
Petersburg who left Rsia after his parents threatened to sue his therapist who backed him receivg hormone therapy; and Ivan, 18, who is gay, half Rsian and half Ukraian, and “didn’t want to kill people. Thoands of members of the LGBTQ+ muny are fleeg Rsia’s anti-gay laws. “My parents are very nservative and they don’t believe gay people should exist, ” said Max, who didn’t disclose his last name for fear of retaliatn agast his parents who live St.
‘OUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ILLEGAL.’ AS MOSW TOUGHENS ANTI-GAY LAW, LGBTQ RSIANS FEAR FOR THE FUTURE
Most of his iends are the closet or fled the untry — and many of them, he said, were vlently attacked by anti-gay groups before they left. Thoands of members of the LGBTQ+ muny are fleeg Rsia due to anti-gay laws. A survey published 2020 by Mosw-based non-ernmental rearch anizatn the Levada Center, found that about 30% of Rsians wanted to isolate gay people om society.
One of the rearchers, Ekatera Kochega, told NBC News that many Rsians “would not want to see gay people existg. Although is not illegal to be an LGBTQ+ person Rsia, a ago the Kreml passed a so-lled “gay propaganda law” banng the distributn of rmatn about gay relatnships among mors. Maksim and Dmrii say they n’t wa to marry and start a fay, somethg that they, as gay men, wouldn’t be able to experience back home.
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 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.