In the waning days of November 2023, under a sky heavy with foreboding, the Russian Supreme Court, in a move as swift as it was severe, cast a shadow over the LGBTQ+ community. In a clandestine session, brief yet momentous, the court, at the behest of the Ministry of Justice, branded the “international LGBT social movement” as “extremist.” This decree, echoing through the corridors of power, signaled a dire turn in Russia’s stance towards LGBTQ+ rights, a stance already steeped in conservatism, further hardened by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The Ministry’s proclamation, issued on the 18th of November, was shrouded in ambiguity, failing to delineate what precisely constitutes an LGBTQ+ entity. This vagueness sowed seeds of alarm among those who champion human rights, for the edict, effective forthwith, seemed to herald an era of widespread persecution for the LGBTQ+ community.
Marie Struthers, a sentinel of human rights at Amnesty International, overseeing Eastern Europe and Central Asia, voiced a vehement denunciation of this ruling. She foresaw a grim future where a blanket ban on LGBTI organizations could trample upon the most fundamental of liberties – the freedom of association, expression, and peaceful assembly. The repercussions, she warned, could be nothing short of catastrophic.
Observers, including Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch, perceive this maneuver as a political gambit by President Vladimir Putin. With an eye on the 2024 presidential vote, Putin appears to be courting his culturally conservative base. He has previously cast the West and the global LGBTQ+ movement as adversaries to Russian cultural mores. In 2022, he tasked sexologists with addressing what he termed the “mental disorder” of same-sex attraction and proscribed gender-affirming surgeries and treatments.
The ruling’s nebulous language, targeting the “international LGBT public movement,” opens the door to broad interpretation, granting authorities the power to persecute any individual or organization under the guise of this movement. Igor Kochetkov, at the helm of the Russian LGBT Network, expressed grave concerns that all lawful activities of LGBT organizations in Russia would now be rendered impossible.
The crackdown reaches beyond mere activism. In recent times, Russia has enacted laws that fortify bans on LGBTQ “propaganda,” imposing severe fines for any promotion of same-sex relations or the portrayal of non-heterosexual attractions as “normal.” Participation in or financing of extremist groups carries the threat of imprisonment for up to 12 years, with symbols of such groups leading to detention or incarceration.
The LGBTQ+ community has endured harsh treatment for various transgressions. Notably, Alexandra Skochilenko, a lesbian artist and activist, was condemned to seven years in a penal colony for her antiwar protest in a supermarket. Sergei Troshin Sergeyev, an openly gay municipal deputy and member of the opposition, fears this ruling spells doom for the LGBTQ+ support network, potentially leading to a decline in mental and physical well-being among community members.
This escalating repression is but a facet of Moscow’s broader campaign to champion ‘traditional values’ and fabricate internal adversaries, with LGBTQ+ individuals increasingly cast as scapegoats. The international community, alongside human rights organizations, watches with a wary eye, decrying these developments and urging a reevaluation of Russia’s approach to human rights and individual freedoms.