Russia outlaws all LGBTQ+ groups & people as “extremist” threats

Acting on a request from President Vladimir Putin’s Ministry of Justice, Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday declared the international gay rights movement as an “extremist organization.” The declaration paves the way for increased persecution of LGBTQ+ activists throughout the country and abroad.

The order — which identifies an amorphous “international LGBT social movement” as an extremist threat to Russia — took five hours to decide and takes effect immediately. The court’s decision was made in secret with no opposing arguments.

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The ruling threatens to quash any public support for LGBTQ+ identities, including the display of rainbow flags or the promotion of slogans like “Gay rights are human rights.”

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Gay rights activists, their lawyers, and others involved in activities contravening the order could be subject to prison sentences of six to ten years, according to The New York Times,

In its request to the court on November 17, the Ministry of Justice alleged “various signs and manifestations of extremist orientation, including the incitement of social and religious discord” had been identified amongst LGBTQ+ organizations in Russia.

President Putin has long maintained that the international gay rights movement is a Trojan horse for the West’s cultural decadence and a threat to Russian traditional values. Since invading Ukraine in February 2022, he has increasingly attacked “extremists” from within as undermining the country’s sovereignty.

That defense of Russian values will likely be a key campaign pledge as Putin seeks another six-year term as president in March.

“There will be a complete distraction from real problems, the creation of mythical enemies, discrimination of the population on various grounds, this is just the beginning,” posted Ivan Zhdanov, director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation in Russia.

That organization, founded by the imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, has also been labeled as extremist by the Russian government.

Amnesty International called the court’s ruling “shameful and absurd.”  

The vague wording of the order submitted to the Supreme Court would allow virtually anyone in Russia to denounce an LGBTQ+ individual or organization as “extremist” — from local police to any ordinary citizens with a grudge against gay people.

Denouncing “others” as shadowy foreign threats has long been a key tactic in authoritarian regimes. Hitler’s National Socialists targeted anyone not of pure “Aryan” descent, including “deviants” like LGBTQ+ people and most especially Jews.

Putin’s anti-LGBTQ+ crusade gained momentum in 2013 with his national ban on sharing “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” with minors. The ban effectively criminalized Pride parades and any public displays of affection by gay people in Russia. Soon after, the Russian parliament, The Duma, passed a law sharply limiting adoption of Russian children by people from countries that allow same-sex marriage.

In 2022, the Duma expanded the propaganda ban “protecting children” to include all ages, criminalizing “any action or the spreading of any information that is considered an attempt to promote homosexuality in public, online, or in films, books or advertising.”

In a speech last year, Putin mocked the West’s “degeneracy.” He said that while other countries were welcome to adopt “rather strange, in my view, new-fangled trends like dozens of genders, and gay parades,” they had no right to impose them on Russia.

Meanwhile, the Russian government maintains their actions targeting LGBTQ+ “extremists” don’t infringe on LGBTQ+ rights.

“The rights of LGBT people are protected,” said Andrei Loginov, a deputy minister of justice testifying earlier this month before the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. “Restraining public demonstrations of nontraditional sexual relations or preferences is not a form of censure for them.”