Living in Russia’s transgender community has resembled a fleet caught in extremely choppy waters ever since Vladimir Putin reacquired the presidency in 2012, promoting an anti-Western, traditionalist agenda.
It might get worse from here.
This month, the Russian Justice Ministry asked the country’s Supreme Court to label the “international LGBT social action” as an “extremist” group, which caused fear to spread among the gay and lesbian community.
The complaint from the ministry will be heard by the court on November 30. Members of the community claim that law enforcement agencies may be given a harsh tool to put an end to LGBT organizations and activists operating inside the nation if it sides with the government, as some activists anticipate.
It would be the most recent action Putin has taken to restrict LGBT people’s rights and freedoms since 2013.
If the court agrees with the Justice Ministry, LGBT organizations will be forced to shut down, go underground, or function from abroad, according to advocate Igor Kochetkov, who is in charge of the Russian LGBT Network.
On November 17, the day the government appealed its case to the Supreme Court, he stated in a Telegram post that “Legal exercise of LGBT organizations and activities in Russia will become impossible.” There ought to be no illusions.
“A Strong Incitement of Hatred”
Any designated organization is effectively outlawed under Russia’s extremist legislation, which was first passed in 2002 not long after Putin came to power.
Over time, changes have been made to the law to add more scope. According to legal experts, it has become broad and ambiguous, perhaps on purpose, and can be used to pursue anyone who is deemed to be a threat for any reason.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Anti-Corruption Foundation of Alexei Navalny, and more recently, Meta, Facebook, are a few different organizations that have been labeled as extremist.
Despite their involvement with gay organizations, some transgender activists worry that an extremist label will make any member of the community a target.
According to Omsk advocate Nikolai Rodkin, the Justice Ministry’s actions “directly incite anger and motivation of violence against people.”
A Kaliningrad-based attorney named Daria Yakovleva stated in a Facebook post that her constitutional colleague would assuredly relocate the entire team abroad and leave Russia.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which has gone much worse than political and military officials had anticipated, the Justice Ministry scenario is taking place in the midst of a crackdown on civil society and dissent members.
Under the guise of a law criminalizing “discrediting the military forces,” officials have pursued any indication of opposition to the war or protest. Even discussing the death toll or casualty rate experienced by Russia’s military forces in public can be viewed as illegal.
Authorities widened the application of a 2013 law that forbade the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations last December. The president’s lead author, Senator Aleksandr Khinshtein, made a direct allusion to the conflict by stating that “a battle is taking place not only on the wars but also in the perception of the people, in their minds and souls.”
According to Human Rights Watch, the Kremlin’s decision to pass the law while the Ukraine war was still ongoing was not an accident.
According to the U.S. rights organization, Putin “mobilized the language of ‘traditional values’ to justify the war in Ukraine.
However, the LGBT community was taken aback by the ministry’s decision to pursue the case.
Less than four weeks before the national elections, Putin is expected to run in and win the case.
Maria Sabunayeva, a psychotherapist who works with LGBT people, told RFE/RL that Putin is attempting to mobilize his supporters around “an enemy,” calling it “beneficial and quick” to play the social card.
No More Colors of Rainbows
Only after the Soviet Union’s dissolution did homosexuality stop being a crime; it wasn’t until then that it was decriminalized.
Russia’s gay and lesbian group grew and prospered to some extent in the years that followed.
However, there have never been strong cultural attitudes toward gays and lesbians. Almost 60% of people opposed equal rights for LGBT people, according to Levada Center surveys conducted in 2021.
In 2018, American gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell organized an anti-Putin demonstration in front of a memorial to Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov in Moscow’s Manezhnaya Square.
The queer advertising law, which Putin signed into law in 2013, imposed strict limitations on the positive portrayal or promotion of homosexuality.
According to hate-crime experts, it increased the number of attacks on gay people. As a result, some gay Russians have emigrated.
In its lawsuit filed this month, the ministry claimed that “extreme signs and manifestations” had been found in “activities of the global LGBT movements operating on Russian Federation territory.”
The government added that among the activities was “the instigation of social and religious anger,” which it claimed violated the nation’s law prohibiting extremist activity.
Authorities were mocked for trying to label so-called LGBT movements with fanaticism while welcoming the rulers of Hamas, the U.S. and EU-designated terrorist organization that seeks to wipe out Israel, by Boris Vishnevsky, an opposition legislator who himself has been targeted for “discrediting the military forces.”
The lack of any description of what the Justice Ministry defines as the “international LGBT movements” adds to the confusion surrounding the petition. Transgender activists assert that there is no such thing and that it is merely a pretext for repressing LGBT organizations and activists.
The agency’s case is officially weak, according to Maksim Olenichev, a rights attorney who has worked with LGBT organizations.
According to him, Russian law simply permits the Justice Ministry to ask the court to forbid an organization, not a movement. And he added that an organization can only be said to exist if it convenes a constituent assembly, approves the charter, or chooses its governing bodies.
Confusion is increased by the fact that the Supreme Court’s explanations may be heard behind closed doors, according to Olenichev, probably because some information may be considered to be state secrets. This means that outside attorneys are not permitted to review the petition’s data or justification.
Everything Will Depend On Their Imagination.
If Russians are found to be materially or publicly supporting an organization, an extremist title carries the risk of severe fines and legal consequences. Or if it is discovered that they are using its symbolic website, such as the rainbow flag, which is frequently used to support gays and lesbians all over the world.
No one will understand what symbols the Justice Ministry has given to the false movement because the hearing will be held in privacy, according to Olenichev.
Additionally, he claimed that the law grants police broad discretion to identify extremist symbols or illustrations.
According to Olenichev, “Everything will depend on their imagination.”
The Kaliningrad-based attorney Yakovleva claimed that as a preventative measure, her partner had asked her to remove all gay symbols from their site.
If someone is ultimately detained for simply owning a rainbow flag, Sanubayeva said she wouldn’t be surprised.
Symbols, No Substance
According to Kochetkov, the state is not trying to outlaw queer relations in Russia by pursuing the case. Instead, the Kremlin wants to get rid of organizations whose ideologies run counter to its own.
Putin stated that LGBT persons are “part of Russian society too” in remarks made the day the Justice Ministry announced its complaint. He said nothing about the legal dispute or the existence of gay organizations in Russia.
The majority of Russian LGBT organizations are community organizations with no state funding. They therefore conflict with the traditional and pro-Orthodox approach that Putin has supported.
In December, the “gay propaganda” legislation was expanded, making it against the law for anyone to advocate same-sex relationships or assert that non-heterosexual orientations were “normal.” That compelled streaming services and libraries to withdraw specific books and movies.
Putin signed further legislation this past July that forbids “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person” and changing one’s identity in official paperwork or public information.
In a Telegram blog, Kochetkov claimed that Putin’s philosophy was “becoming totalitarian,” which means that not only is it illegal to criticize it, but also to refuse to publicly support it.
