The reality for Russian 2SLGBTQ+ People

2SLGBTQ+ activists deemed ‘extremist’ by the Supreme Court in Russia

• In a November 2023 ruling, the Russian Supreme Court has deemed 2SLGBTQ+ activists as ‘extremist’, banning the activities of the so-called ‘international LGBT public movement’.

• According to Russian law, a supporter of a designated extremist group faces up to 12 years in prison.

• Other groups named extremist by the Russian state include the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Facebook’s parent company, Meta.

• Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has issued a statement that he ‘deplored’ the decision, while the EU has ‘strongly condemned’ Russia’s Supreme Court as well.

Sending a message before the 2024 election

• As reported by Reuters and Radio Free Europe, many 2SLGBTQ+ activists in Russia view the ban as a divisive tactic to gain Putin support ahead of the upcoming 2024 election.

• The "LGBT" ban is seen amidst a wider crackdown on the media and liberal political organizations during the prolonged war in Ukraine.

• The extremist designation is the latest and strongest move to scapegoat and suppress 2SLGBTQ+ Russians,following the extension of regime’s "gay propaganda" censorship laws and the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Alienation and Russian "traditional values"

• Human Rights Watch notes denials of 2SLGBTQ+ discrimination by the Russian Justice Ministry, since the Russian constitution disallows discrimination.

• The Russian government has, however, embedded a ban on same sex marriage in the constitution.

• While touting Russia as multicultural and multifaith, the Deputy Minister of Justice yet claimed that2SLGBTQ+ chafes against Russia’s shared ‘traditional family values’.

• The ruling has been followed by a crackdown which has seen police raiding of 2SLGBTQ+ clubs throughout Russia.

International culture war

• The Putin regime has consistently pitted itself against the ostensibly ‘degrading’ influence of the West.

• Russia’s attempts to make 2SLGBTQ+ rights the symbol of ostensibly decadent Western influence is not idiosyncratic, with governments in Poland and Hungary having made similar protestations.

• Putin’s regime has characterized  2SLGBTQ+ organizations as the instruments of foreign Western governments, alienating Russian identity from them in asserting its ‘traditional values’.

• This advertizing of Russian international traditionalism has included the May 2023 reports of a "migrant villages" to be constructed for "conservative" American and Canadian expats.

• Further attempts to court North American conservatism have included Russian state television airing content from American right-wing talk show host Tucker Carlson.