LGBT movement added to Russia’s list of extremist and terrorist organisations

According to state media reports on Friday, Russia has included the “LGBT movement” in a catalogue of extremist and terrorist organisations.

This action aligns with a decision made by Russia’s Supreme Court in November, which ruled that LGBT activists should be classified as extremists—a move that elicited concerns from representatives of gay and transgender communities who feared potential arrests and legal actions.

Russia has previously banned what it calls “gay propaganda” among adults, extending an earlier law that forbade it among minors. That effectively outlawed any representation of “non-traditional sexual relations” in public and in the media.

The list, managed by Rosfinmonitoring, encompasses over 14,000 individuals and entities labeled as extremists and terrorists, granting the agency authority to freeze their bank accounts.

Included in this roster are diverse entities ranging from Al Qaeda to prominent entities such as U.S. tech conglomerate Meta and affiliates of the late Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

The recent addition specifically targets the “international LGBT social movement and its structural units,” as reported by the state news agency RIA.

Under the tenure of President Vladimir Putin, Russia has undergone a perceptible shift towards what is depicted as traditional family values, diverging from what is perceived as Western decadence.

Over the past decade, the country has imposed increasingly stringent regulations on the expression of sexual orientations and gender identities.

These measures include the enactment of laws prohibiting the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relationships and the prohibition of legal or medical alterations of gender.

This tightening of restrictions reflects Russia’s broader societal stance on issues related to sexuality and gender identity.

Main Image: By Alexei Kouprianov, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58464582

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read Also: Kremlin wants to “liquidate” LGBT network, says rights activist Igor Kochetkov

“To the Kremlin, the Sphere, which carries out the programmes and initiatives of the network, serves to spread “LGBT views” and seeks to “change Russian federal legislation regarding the LGBT movement” – chiefly, the country’s so-called “gay propaganda law” that bans the promotion of queer topics to underage youth.

“Shutting the group down, less than two months after Russia’s Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of the human rights organisation Memorial International, would be another step in Vladimir Putin’s efforts to recast Russia as a nation where LGBT+ people seemingly don’t exist.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________