Ten years ago Russia’s Kremlin introduced legislation restricting LGBTQ+ rights, known as the “gay propaganda” law, which banned any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. Then in 2020, Putin pushed through constitutional reforms to extend his rule by two more terms and also included a provision to outlaw same-sex marriage.

Two years later a law was passed banning propaganda of “nontraditional sexual relations” among adults, also, effectively outlawing any public endorsement of LGBTQ+ people.  And this has now been followed this year with another law that prohibited gender transitioning procedures and gender-affirming care for transgender people. The legislation prohibited any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records.

Now very recently the Russian Supreme Court held a four-hour session on Thursday behind closed doors to officially announce another major blow to the LGBTQ+ community. It was the result of a lawsuit brought by the Ministry of Justice who had decided  ‘the activities of the international L.G.B.T.Q. movement had exhibited “various signs and manifestations of an extremist orientation, including incitement of social and religious hatred.”

Just two days later Russian security forces raided gay venues across In Moscow including a nightclub, a male sauna, and a bar that hosted LGBTQ+ parties, under the pretext of a drug raid.  

Despite this Russian authorities reject accusations of LGBTQ+ discrimination. Russian media quoted Deputy Justice Minister Andrei Loginov as saying that “the rights of LGBT people in Russia are protected” legally. He was presenting a report on human rights in Russia to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, arguing that “restraining public demonstration of nontraditional sexual relationships or preferences is not a form of censure for them”  

Olga Baranova, director of the Moscow Community Center for LGBTQ+ Initiatives said “It is clear for us that they’re once again making us out as a domestic enemy to shift the focus from all the other problems that are in abundance in Russia,” 

In that regard, they are not alone.  The right wing of the Republican Party in the US has a very similar agenda.  It is not unfeasible that what  the Russian LGBTQ+ community is suffering today, could be what we may have to deal with too if we leave it unchecked