The Supreme Court banned the “international LGBT movement” in Russia – Kommersant

The Supreme Court of Russia, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, declared the “international public movement of LGBT people” extremist. The meeting was held behind closed doors. There was no defendant in the case—only representatives of the Ministry of Justice were in the room. Journalists were only allowed into the broadcast room. The case was marked “secret”. The Supreme Court’s decision takes effect immediately.

The Ministry of Justice filed the lawsuit on November 17 in connection with “various signs and manifestations of an extremist orientation,” including “incitement of social and religious hatred.” On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the St. Petersburg Cultural Forum. During his speech, he emphasized that representatives of sexual minorities “are also part of society.” However, in his opinion, it is bad when only LGBT representatives “win all sorts of competitions.”

Previously, in one day of a closed court hearing, the Supreme Court satisfied the claims of the Prosecutor General’s Office to recognize the AUE social movement as an extremist organization and the Columbine movement as terrorist.

The first law banning LGBT propaganda among children was passed in 2013. In December of this year, the law was extended to adults. After this, Roskomnadzor began drawing up protocols against online cinemas that incorrectly labeled films mentioning LGBT people.

This summer, Russia passed a law banning voluntary gender reassignment operations (both in the case of primary and secondary sexual characteristics). Operations to treat congenital anomalies of sex formation in children are possible only after a meeting of the medical commission.

According to the survey Russian Field, the attitude of Russians towards the LGBT community has recently become more negative. 62% of respondents were in favor of limiting the rights of LGBT people, and 55% were in favor of limiting the rights of transgender people. Two years ago, only 42% of Russians were against equality between homosexual and heterosexual Russians, and in 2013 the figure was only 19%. According to human rights activists, this is how laws adopted by the Russian leadership influence public sentiment.

Read more about the attitude of Russians towards LGBT people in the material “Russians are not attracted to gender diversity”.

Anastasia Larina