Tag: russia gay rights
U.N. Experts Condemn Killing and Torture of Gay Men in Chechnya
London — United Nations experts demanded on Thursday that Chechnya halt the abduction, detention, beating and killing of gay and bisexual men, after weeks of reports about violent repression there. “These are acts of persecution and violence on an unprecedented scale in the region and constitute serious violations of the obligations of the Russian Federation… Read more »
Journalist who broke news of Chechnya’s gay purge forced into hiding after ‘jihad’ death threats
The Russian journalist who broke the news of Chechnya’s homophobic purge has been forced into hiding after the region’s largest mosque declared jihad. Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta broke the news earlier this month that more than 100 gay men have been detained in Chechnya “in connection with their non-traditional sexual orientation”. The disturbing reports,… Read more »
US, UK and and EU leaders condemn homophobic ‘purge’ in Chechnya
International figures have urged the Russian government to intervene over reports that authorities in Chechnya are ‘purging’ the gay community. Early reports emerged last week that gay people are being targeted in the region, which is part of Russia but has substantial autonomy. Russian newspapers and human rights groups report that more than 100 gay… Read more »
Gay men “do not exist”
Chechen spokesman responds to reports that 100 gay men have been rounded up, and some killed “You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic.” That’s what a spokesperson for Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said in response to reports that at least 100 suspected gay men had been rounded up… Read more »
Honor killings
How ambitions known LGBT activist in Chechnya awakened terrible ancient custom “Novaya Gazeta” has learned about the mass detentions of Chechen residents on account of their sexual orientation – or suspicion of such. At the moment, we received information about the arrest of more than a hundred men. “Novaya Gazeta” has already known the names… Read more »
Gay men “do not exist”
Chechen spokesman responds to reports that 100 gay men have been rounded up, and some killed “You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic.” That’s what a spokesperson for Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said in response to reports that at least 100 suspected gay men had been rounded up… Read more »
Chechen Authorities Arresting and Killing Gay Men, Russian Paper Says
Moscow — First, two television reporters vanished. Then a waiter went missing. Over the past week, men ranging in age from 16 to 50 have disappeared from the streets of Chechnya. On Saturday, a leading Russian opposition newspaper confirmed a story already circulating among human rights activists: The Chechen authorities were arresting and killing gay… Read more »
Russia wages legal & cultural war on LGBTIs
The ‘enemy within’: Victims of Putin’s ‘gay propaganda’ law Although Europe has generally seen some progress in achieving LGBTQI+ rights over the last two decades, the skies have recently been darkening over certain parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where legislation has been introduced with the aim of silencing LGBTQI+ voices. The Russian Federation… Read more »
Russian government warns citizens not to be homophobic while on holiday in Europe
Russia has warned homophobic citizens to refrain from homophobic attacks… while on holiday in other countries. The advice comes from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which has updated its travel advice for visitors hoping to holiday around the world. The guidelines, which are aimed at preventing Russian tourists from causing offence, warns them that they may… Read more »
Europe fines Russia for banning St Petersburg Pride
European Court of Human Rights rules banning Pride marches a violation of human rights The European Court of Human Rights has fined Russia for blocking a Pride march in St Petersburg. LGBTI activists Yuri Gavrikov, Alexander Sheremetyev, Dmitry Milkov, and Maria Yefremenkova were awarded €27,500 damages in total over authorities’ repeated refusal to allow them… Read more »
One country now makes up 64% of all HIV infections in Europe
Cases of HIV in Russia are now the highest in Europe. The country saw some 100,000 new infections recorded in the most recent year’s figures. The trend goes against that seen in the rest of Europe, where new infections have generally stabilised or fallen. 98,177 new diagnoses of HIV were diagnosed in Russia in 2015,… Read more »
Russia censors internet support site for LGBT teens
Russia is set to blacklist a support website for LGBT teens that officials say violates the country’s ‘gay propaganda’ law. Deti-404, which translates to Children-404, acts as an online support system for LGBT teens in Russia, where homophobia and transphobia continues to thrive. The website‘s users often share their stories about the anti-LGBT prejudices endured… Read more »
Russian gay activists stand for election in challenge to ‘corrupt’ Vlaidmir Putin
Two gay Russians are standing for election to the country’s Parliament, in a challenge to the country’s ruling party. Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party continues to hold an iron grip on the country politically, holding 141 of the 170 seats in the upper house, alongside a majority in the Duma. However, ahead of this month’s… Read more »
Russia Crime gangs blackmail gays
St. Petersburg, Russia — (AP) Criminal gangs in Russia, operating through gay dating sites, have found a lucrative new blackmail target: homosexual men. A St. Petersburg economist, one of their latest victims, said several men burst into the apartment where he was meeting his date. Claiming that his date was under age, they threatened to… Read more »
Russia’s LGBT community get the chance to show pride with a rainbow
Russia’s LGBT community can now protest against the country’s homophobic laws with a rainbow. A group of Dutch artists have launched a new protest project that will enable Russians to fight against the country’s notorious law against gay “propaganda”, without breaking it. The new app, Raduga (Russian for rainbow), tracks weather forecasts across country and… Read more »
Gay clubbing and stoic activism in Russia’s homophobic heartland
Coda Story report from the industrial city of Samara where the one remaining LGBT rights organisation provides invaluable support – discreetly It is late in Samara, an industrial hub in central Russia and the city’s only gay nightclub is proving difficult to find. In a dark car park there are none of the telltale signs:… Read more »
The Art of Reading Russian Obituaries
A journalist was killed in St. Petersburg last week, but no one called for an immediate and full investigation. No one seemed to suspect that he was killed because of his work. In a country of frequent and varied violence, this was a different kind of crime, a murder that dare not speak its name.… Read more »
Calvin Klein accused of breaking ‘gay propaganda’ law in Russia
A new advert for the fashion giant’s latest fragrance has sparked outrage in Russia. Russian authorities says they have received a number of complaints for a new ad for Calvin Klein perfume CK2. The advertisement – which features two same-sex couples – has been reported to authorities in the country for allegedly containing “elements of… Read more »
Russia’s Invisible Children
“404 we exist!” reads one of the selfies from the Children 404 Vkontakte page that has been ordered to shut down. How one outreach forum for LGBT teens has been forced to adapt to growing pressure from politicians and the public “I do not know what is going on with me, and that’s the scariest… Read more »
Russia rejects bill to punish hand-holding and coming out with jail
A Russian Duma committee has rejected a bill which would have made coming out to young people and kissing in public punishable with jail sentences. The Russian Duma was set to vote this week on a measure which would ban all public displays of affection between same-sex couples. The legislation suggested punishments for same-sex couples… Read more »
Screening ‘Sodom’
Watching Russia’s strangest documentary On May 27, 2015, Russian celebrity journalist and film director Arkady Mamontov stood in a Moscow studio of the state-owned TV channel Rossiya 1 (Russia One) to discuss his latest documentary with a group of experts and an audience of about 70 people. Along with tens of millions of Russians who… Read more »
Europe, Putin, and the ‘Gayropa’ Bait
The Kremlin’s messaging on gay rights issues has little to do with beliefs Information war as most people understand it — the use of propaganda to persuade people that a certain cause is right — does not actually exist in Russia. The Russian doctrine of information war is not concerned with ideology. It is a… Read more »
Political Violence, Inc.
How attacks on Russia’s LGBT community are sub-contracted Political violence in Russia is a franchise industry. Anyone can peddle the product so long as they adhere to some basic marketing rules. End users are stratified into various preapproved categories, such as known supporters of “European values,” or prominent opposition politicians There are also ways of… Read more »
On the Frontiers of the “Russian World”
How homosexuality got caught up in the war in eastern Ukraine It was a windy afternoon and Anfisa Glushenko, a 23-year-old volunteer from the self-defense forces of the Luhansk People’s Republic, was in a chatty mood. As the car sped past the charred gas stations and abandoned villages of eastern Ukraine, she kept her green… Read more »
In and Out In ‘90s Russia
An observer looks back on what’s changed, and what hasn’t, for gays in Russia When I first lived in Russia in 1991, during a leave from my job at The San Francisco Chronicle, life was falling apart and cracking open simultaneously. The Soviet state was collapsing under the weight of its own terrible history. But… Read more »
The Origins of Russian Gay Myths
Four Myths that Fuel Hatred for Gays in Russia Most Russians want gays liquidated or ostracized. That’s according to a recent poll that showed hardening attitudes towards all minorities in Russia, but especially towards the country’s LGBT community. Behind Russia’s blossoming hatred for gays are several powerful myths that make up the Kremlin’s narrative of… Read more »
Russia passes law allowing them to ignore international human rights decisions
The Russian government votes to pass law which enables them to ignore decisions handed down by foreign justice bodies. Last week, the state Duma voted to pass a draft law titled “On Amendments to the Federal Constitutional Law ‘On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”. The bill-drafted by all four Russian parliamentary parties –… Read more »
Russian LGBT festival refuses to be silenced by ‘gay propaganda’ law
Bok o Bok’s opening night was ambushed by a screaming politician and visitors risked attack, but founders say they won’t be scared out of St Petersburg Holding events for the LGBT community in a country that is clamping down on human rights is difficult. Staging them in the cradle of the “gay propaganda” law is… Read more »
What It’s Like To Be Young, LGBT And Vilified In Russia
Photographer Misha Friedman takes a look inside “The Iron Closet.” New Yorkers can get a no-holds-barred look at Russia’s beleaguered lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth as part of Brooklyn’s annual “pop-up” photography festival. Photographer Misha Friedman, whose images have appeared in Time Magazine and The New Yorker, is bringing his exhibit, “The Iron… Read more »
Protests after gay son ‘exorcised’ in controversial Russian play
Russia’s law banning ‘homosexual propaganda’ tested to its limits with play featuring gay teenager’s coming out story A play based on the true story of a gay son coming out to his parents is under threat in Moscow, after complaints from a protest group. ‘All the Shades of Blue’ – ‘blue’ is a slang term… Read more »
Gay in Putin’s Moscow: why the city is pinker than you think
Also see Gay Russia website LGBT nights are easy to find and Grindr reaches into the heart of the Kremlin itself. But two years after the law banning ‘homosexual propaganda’, can being gay in the Russian capital really be much fun? “Moscow is like a small European city in the mid-90s,” says Anton Krasovsky. “Everybody… Read more »
I’m gay and I’ve just spent a year living in Russia
People think it’s one of the most homophobic places in the world Outside of Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan, Russia’s probably the last place a gay guy would want spend a year abroad in. Before I arrived in the country, the only things I’d heard about being homosexual in the country were horrendous. I’d read stories… Read more »
Russian Gay Activists Detained After Unsanctioned LGBT Rights Rally In Moscow
Moscow (Reuters) – Police broke up an unsanctioned gay rights rally in central Moscow on Saturday, detaining around 20 people, including anti-gay campaigners who attacked the activists. The campaigners had requested permission to hold a gay pride parade today, but Moscow authorities blocked the request for the tenth year in a row – an annual… Read more »
‘Sorry mum, I’m still gay’: Russian club helps parents accept sexual preference
As life becomes increasingly dangerous for LGBT community, Meduza joins a support group coaching families to come to terms with homosexuality The parents’ club has a few rules: you can only speak if you’re holding the navy dragon, a soft toy that has grown shabby in the club’s four-year existence; no interrupting is allowed; and… Read more »
Russia to block support group for gay teens
Russia’s main support group for teenagers who identify as LGBT is to be blocked under the country’s ‘gay propaganda’ law. The founders of Children-404 – the name of which references the country’s censorship of gay culture with reference to the ‘404 – Page not found’ internet error – aimed to provide a safe space for… Read more »
Russia’s ‘Gay Propaganda’ Laws Are Targeting Teachers Amidst Rising Anti-LGBT Sentiment
St. Petersburg, Russia (AP) — Alevtina is one of several teachers who lost their jobs in St. Petersburg after being outed by an anti-gay activist. While most resigned quietly, the 27-year-old music teacher decided to fight her dismissal in court — an unusual step in Russia where gays have faced increasing pressure in recent years.… Read more »
The Fear of Being Gay in Russia
Putin’s state has allowed violence against the Russian LGBT community to spike. Moscow’s first gay pride parade was held in May 2006, thirteen years after homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, the beginning of a new era of openness for the LGBT community. It didn’t quite work out… Read more »
Russia moves to stop same-sex spouses receiving UN staff benefits
Russia asks UN to put recognition of same-sex marriage for 43,000 staff worldwide to a vote, in attempt to thwart policy change Russia is attempting to stop the United Nations extending staff benefits to same-sex spouses. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, announced in July 2014 it would recognise same-sex marriages among its 43,000 staff… Read more »
Police raid gay club run by lesbian whose selfie of her kissing a girlfriend in front of Russian anti-homosexual politician went viral
St Petersburg lesbian nightclub called Infinity was raided by police Follows selfie by owner of kiss with girlfriend in front of anti-gay politician The selfie, taken in front of Vitaly Milonov on a plane, went viral Milonov later threatened to ‘call the Cossacks’ on the two women A St Petersburg lesbian nightclub was raided by… Read more »
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