"LGBT movement" banned in Russia from now on

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation banned the “LGBT movement” in Russia, although human rights activists asked to dismiss the lawsuit. From now on, the law discriminates against the rights and freedoms of the LGBTQ+ community.

The court hearing was held on November 30 behind closed doors, classified as “secret”. The Supreme Court declared the “international LGBT social movement” an extremist organization, banning its activities.

Formally, there is no “international LGBT social movement,” but this is not the first time a Russian court has banned groups of people that do not constitute a single whole with a charter and structure. Previously, Russia has already adopted repressive laws in relation to the LGBTQ+ community: banning gender reassignment and propaganda, writes euronews.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the protection of “traditional values” when he announced the invasion of Ukraine. Since then, rhetoric directed against LGBT people at the state level has only intensified. The only exception, perhaps, was words of the head of state at the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, when the Russian president did not ignore the LGBT community and spoke in its defense:

“I’ll say something unexpected: they too, these topics and these people, have the right to win, show, tell. Because this is also part of society, what people live by. It’s bad if they only win all sorts of competitions, that’s this is of no use. But this desire for equality… this equality should be everywhere, in everything – including in competitions in the field of culture. The experience of the thousand-year history of our country convincingly demonstrates that cultural diversity is the greatest good, and the interaction of cultures “one of the conditions for stable and peaceful development.”

Russian authorities deny accusations of discrimination. Deputy Justice Minister Andrei Loginov gave a report on the situation in Russia to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva last month and said that “restricting the public display of non-traditional sexual relationships or preferences is not a form of censorship.”

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