The young woman was nervously smoking European Gitanes and fiddling with the food on her plate as she sat at the outside tables of the café not far from the gallery city and main rail station in St. Petersburg. The scene was eerily reminiscent of a novel set during the Cold War in the 1960s. She kept frantically scanning the area as if she were about to be caught up in a covert authorities investigation.
She explained to the blogger seated across from her that the main reason for her stress and discomfort was that, as a trans woman, she felt threatened and frightened. She had first relocated to the Russian capital of Moscow because she was unable to stay in her home region of the Sverdlovsk Oblast, [region] in the Ural mountains. She then fled to St. Petersburg as tensions over how Gay Russians were treated grew.
She told Soviet freelancing journalist Sergei Dimitrov, “There is no safety again, soon they did openly hunt us like swine, we never right to exist they say.”
Elena, a young girl who just went by the name Dimitrov, claimed that since the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, also known as Roskomnadzor, cracked down on any websites and common phone apps that cater to LGBTQ people, as well as the most recent passage of laws expanding Russia’s “gay propaganda” law to include adults next December, she has started making sincere attempts to leave the country.
A bill that would prohibit gender switching practices in Russia was passed by the lower apartment of the Russian Parliament, also known as the State Duma, next year. The estimate is currently on its way to the Federation Council, or higher House, where it will likely go in Tuesday’s scheduled vote before being sent to Vladimir Putin for his anticipated name.
A co-sponsor of the legislation, State Duma]Parliament] Deputy Speaker Pytor Tolstoy, emphasized that outlawing the “practice of transgenderism” was in the best interests of national security.
He continued by saying that the diagnosis of “transsexualism” refers to gender identity problems and is the basis for determining whether a member is unfit for military service. Additionally, “we must not forget that a queer couple has the right to adopt children by changing the intercourse of one of the lovers.” However, he said, such cases currently exist in Russia.
Although sex symbol changes have been permitted for 26 years since 1997, the proposed legislation would forbid Russians from changing their identity on official government identification documents like internal and external passports, driver’s licenses, and baby certificates.
The practice of “performing health interventions designed to alter a person’s sex,” such as surgery and prescribing hormone therapy, would be outlawed by health healthcare professionals.
After the legislation’s second reading next month, Tolstoy blamed the West for what he believed to be a lucrative medical industry in his floor speech before the vote:
According to Tolstoy, “The American trans business is trying to seep into our state in this way to break through a glass for its multi-billion money company.” Then he asserted that there is now a network of centers in Russia that “includes trans-friendly doctors and therapists, and all this operates with the effective support of LGBT organizations.” He implied that the recent growth of the nation’s law banning Gay propaganda was somehow to blame for the changes, saying that they had changed their names to more, probably innocent ones over the past six months.
Gender reassignment surgery is “a very profitable area of medical service,” according to Tolstoy. And it makes sense why some doctors defend this field so vehemently, concealing educational information, including those acquired worldwide while studying in the United States and other countries,” he said, “running into” American health education.
The bill’s next reading, which was approved on Thursday, includes provisions that forbid transgender people from adopting or fostering children and compel them to end their marriages if one of the partners changes female later.
The Russian Duma’s actions were denounced in a statement by the Gay and human rights organization ILGA-Europe, which also offered its assistance and solidarity to the trans and gay communities in Russia.
“We firmly believe that for legislation blatantly violates fundamental principles and standards of human rights.”
ILGA-Europe is adamant that everyone has the same rights and dignity, irrespective of their gender identification or expression. Everyone has the right to self-determination, protection, and the highest level of physical and mental health, according to international human rights requirements like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The international human rights framework is flagrantly disregarded when trans and gender diverse people are denied access to trans-specific healthcare and legal gender recognition, according to ILGA-Europe.
The ban, according to compassionate doctors and proponents of trans rights, is likely to produce a black market for hormone substitutes, some of which are potentially dangerous, and increase the number of attempted suicides among trans youth without access to medical care.
Additionally, the act nullifies all certificates of legal identity recognition for people who have undergone transition-related surgery but have not yet changed the gender marker on their passports, according to an ILGA-Europe statement. Trans people are subjected to discrimination, abuse, and violence as a result of this violation of their right to privacy, which also puts them in legal limbo and places them under unnecessary burdens.
According to Dimitrov, Elena is specifically covered by that provision of the law because, despite having undergone transition-related surgery, she was unable to have the female indicator changed on her files, which has made her life even more difficult given the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
She explained to Dimitrov that another reason she had fled was requests for her to appear for compulsory military service under her previous name and identity. She now claims that she is trapped and unable to leave officially, considering the possibility of entering the EU illegally and applying for asylum, most likely in neighboring Latvia or Estonia.
According to Russia’s Interior Ministry, the number of visas issued in 2022 as a result of “gender shift” has more than doubled from 428 in 2020 to 936 last month, according to independent media source Mediazona.
Legislators cited concerns that men are avoiding the military draft by changing their identity in official documents as justification for the delivery.
A senator who asked what to do with 3,000+ transgender people who have now managed to change their gender and papers made another point. Hardy retorted that the law has no retroactive effects.
Gender switching was referred to as “pure satanism” by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.
Older ILGA-Europe advocacy officer Akram Kubanychbekov recently sent out a “dear colleagues” request for help outlining particular needs and actions that are essential to helping trans and gender diverse Russians.
Written by Kubanychbekov:
It has become increasingly dangerous for transgender people to live their lives honestly and fearlessly due to discrimination, murder, and the passage of oppressive laws. In light of these facts, we have contacted local trans agencies to inquire about the current need for transgender community support.
“There is a need in facilitating support for broadening the requirements for humanitarian visas to solve the immediate needs of transgender people who wish to leave Russia.” We can make sure that people who are being persecuted and have their security threatened have a good chance of finding shelter abroad by broadening the eligibility requirements. To expand our help to transgender individuals seeking a safer atmosphere in safer places, it is essential to collaborate with governments at the national level to advocate for this change.
“In addition to humanitarian visas, trans organizations inside Russia requested assistance in securing multi-entry, long-term (preferably Schengen) visas for activists who will continue their significant work there but may need to leave immediately in the event of escalating danger. Activists can carry out their crucial work knowing they have an emergency exit if necessary by making it easier for them to obtain the necessary immigration support.
“We’d like to urge you to support the local trans organizations in Russia and stand in solidarity with them.”
The second trans politician in the country, Yulia Alyoshina, had made plans to run for governor of Kazakhstan’s Altay area, which borders the former Soviet state.
After Putin signed the expanded anti-LGBTQ regulation last December, Alyoshina, who had been the leader of the local Civic Initiative party, resigned from her position. Party leaders had urged her to think about running for governor as general elections were scheduled for this September in the Altay area.
Alyoshina claims she didn’t expect any Civic Initiative party members to suggest that she run for governor. However, she reasoned, “Well, why not?” and concurred. She told Russian media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe, “I’m confident that my honesty, integrity, and honest desire to make my native land better are more important to voters than the fact that I was born in a different body.”
Alyoshina informed Novaya Gazeta Europe that the political culture in Russia is very unfavorable regarding its relationship to transgender people. She talked about losing followers after Putin signed the anti-LGBT legislation last December and the Duma passed. She believes that the government’s rhetoric on “LGBT propaganda” has had an impact on people.
Alyoshina discussed the effects of the bill in another meeting with Meduza, a Russian language media outlet that the Putin government outlawed in January 2023. Her health change, she told Meduza, took roughly 1.5 years. She was treated at a state medical center because there were no private centers in her area where she could receive female care solutions. After being initially observed, it took another 1.5 years for her to receive a document authorizing the changing of gender markers on official documents.
Alyoshina confirmed that she had given up on running for governor in a telephone interview with the Moscow Times just before the Duma’s upcoming vote. She had posted this on her Telegram channel.
Alyoshina told The Moscow Times, “I was informed by municipal deputies and village heads that the [gender reassignment ban] bill was being considered and that they couldn’t give me their signatures.
They questioned me, ‘How can we formally support a trans person in Russia if the State Duma forbids it?’ she remarked.
Alyoshina cited the deputies as telling her, “We will go against the country’s policy by putting our signatures in your support, and we have families and children, we don’t want to fall under repression.”
Alyoshina stated that she was considering “various options” for her future but would hold off until the gender reassignment law was passed.
Until the legislation is passed, she said, “I’m not ready to dive into [my future plans].”
