Putin is so tough on gays, lesbians and other LGBTQ people that Elon Musk visits a right-wing populist festival and calls on people to have children

The LGBTQIA+ community in Russia has always struggled, but a year ago it became clear that the situation for gays, lesbians and other queer people in the country was becoming increasingly difficult. In December 2022, President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning “gay propaganda.” With numerous consequences for LGBTQIA+ people.

Because this meant that the community was virtually banished from the public eye. So people continued to meet, but had to be increasingly careful and act under the radar.

Since November 30, 2023, this is hardly possible anymore. Since then, queer people are no longer just unwanted, but are considered extremist, as the country’s highest court ruled. What accusations there were against the “international LGBTIA+ movement” was not stated. But the verdict does not mean anything good for those affected. Far-reaching measures have already been taken in the country in a very short time.

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Millions of LGBTQ people are criminalized in Russia

The approximately 15 million Russians who “do not conform to the norm” because of their sexuality or gender identity are now considered criminals. The wording of laws and decisions of the Supreme Court in Russia is deliberately vague. So that they can be flexibly interpreted as the state leadership deems appropriate.

The Supreme Court’s ruling could now have fatal consequences for the LGBTQIA+ community. It remains to be seen how powerful this will be. But the time has already come In the country ruled by Vladimir Putin, repression is in full swing, including raids, bans, punishments and worse.

Police in Saint Petersburg and Moscow are currently taking massive action against clubs and bars known as meeting places for homosexuals, as the Tagesspiegel reports. However, under the guise of wanting to combat drug-related crime.

Russia: Putin takes action against LGBTQ people

Some authorities in the country have now taken the first steps in response to the ruling. For example, a court in St. Petersburg fined the television channel Avia. The reason: a video clip in which two women hold hands.

The club “Zentralnaya Stanzia” in Saint Petersburg was hit even harder. His lease has now been terminated, the Russian exile media “Meduza” reports. There are also consequences for children in the entertainment sector. According to the report, the state censorship authority has given the American children’s series “My Little Pony” an age rating of 18+ – because the horse “Rainbow Dash” has a rainbow tail.

In the eyes of those in power and Vladimir Putin, Russia represents “traditional values” that do not fit with homosexuality. According to the ideas of Russia’s leaders, homosexuals and queer people contradict all customs and morals in Russia. The country’s Orthodox Church also supported the verdict. It is an “act of moral self-defense” because LGBTQIA+ is incompatible with the “concept of religiosity.”

The whole thing is as nonsensical as if all pensioners in Russia were suddenly declared a “public movement,” human rights activists wrote in a letter of protest to the court, from which “Meduza” quoted. His decision essentially criminalized an entire social group because of their sexuality.

Russia: LGBTQ oppression already in the Tsarist empire

Opposition to gays, lesbians and other queer people is not new. The first law against homosexuality was passed in 1832 under Tsarist rule. ‘Men’s love’ was banned. With drastic consequences for those who broke the law: they could be exiled to Siberia.

A short time later, gay men even had to expect a prison sentence. Under Soviet criminal law, there was a risk of imprisonment for up to eight years or admission to a psychiatric hospital.

There have been only two moments in the country’s modern history when homosexuality was tolerated in Russia: in the 1920s and in the 1990s, immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Peak repression of LGBTQ people in Putin’s Russia: Those affected are concerned

Since Putin came to power, the current Supreme Court ruling represents the pinnacle of oppression against gays, lesbians and other queer people. It is not the first ruling this year that limits the rights of LGBTQIA+ people. For example, medical support for gender changes was also banned.

Apparently those affected are afraid. As the “Tagesanzeiger” writes, countless people have already deleted photos from Facebook and Russia’s VKontakte, disbanded groups and destroyed information about their sexual orientation. Alexei Sergeyev is an LGBTQIA+ activist from Saint Petersburg. He calls what is happening now the “erasing of the history” of his community.