The Worsening Situation in Russia

Protest against the banning of Moscow Gay Pride (S)

The Russian Federation’s lower house (the State Duma) recently passed a law banning the provision of “homosexual propaganda” to anyone under eighteen, and holding gay pride rallies. Fines are in place for anyone who breaks these laws – including media organisations, foreign citizens, and schools. The State Duma also passed a bill that makes offending religious feelings a crime, punishable by up to three years in prison.

In theory (at least to Putin and his government) the new laws are mean to promote traditional Russian values and reduce the spread of “Western liberalism”, which they believe to be corrupting Russia’s youth and contributing to the protests against Putin’s rule, to which I have to say: Putin, dear, this one’s all on you, believe me.

These laws are just the latest in a string of homophobic sentiment that has been stirring in Russia.

In June 2012, Russia’s capital city Moscow banned Pride parades for one hundred years. A previous ban between 2006 and 2008 was declared unlawful by the European Court, and they fined Russia 29,510 euros (that is around $41,090). Russia appears unconcerned that there is increased pressure from the US and the European Union (as well as multiple human rights organisations and Amnesty International) to reverse the most recent ban, however, despite the fact that the ban contradicts a human right: freedom of assembly. Moscow obviously wants to forget all LGBT people, which is almost ironic considering the fact that possibly the most famous person ever to hail from Moscow, one Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was gay. I'm not seeing them rushing to cover up all his work, however.

So what was their reasoning behind the ban? In May 2013 the head of the department of regional security Alexey Mayorov stated that there was a need for “developing patriotism among the younger generation." The original Pride ban was due to the possibility that parades could cause disruptions. I’ll come back to this in a little while.

The logo of the 20012 Pride House (S)

Two years ago, Russia banned a non-governmental organisation called "Pride House in Sochi" for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Pride House was first created for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London had a Pride House for the entire games. Russia has cut the Pride House, which was intended to offer information regarding homophobia in sports and a recreational meeting place for LGBT athletes during the Games – and that’s not the worst news for athletes and fans that aren’t straight. No, the new bill that the State Duma passed permits the imprisonment of foreign individuals who break the ruling on “propaganda”. 

Couple that with the increasing levels of violence towards LGBT individuals and the Russian police’s lax attitude when investigating this, and there is enough cause that even the International Olympic Committee should have sat up and actually taken notice. Last year when Russia first banned the Pride House, there were hopes that the IOC would step in and enforce their policies. Instead, they issued a statement reiterating a quote from the Olympic Charter, which “clearly states that any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.”

Unfortunately there is no further action from the IOC, despite a direct letter from the Human Rights Watch, asking them to (at the very least) put out a deliberate and explicit public statement for all Olympic Hosts to demonstrate equal and total support both in word and in practice. The letter can be read in full here.

Considering the IOC’s reluctance to get involved beyond repeating the Olympic Charter, perhaps it is too much to hope for.

This is Alexander Mikhailov (S)

As a final point, just in case anyone is still thinking “oh, I’m sure it’s not all that bad”. Meet Alexander Mikhailov, the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Trans-Baikal Parliament has called for the right of marines to whip LGBT people in public. Now remember, these are just words – until you realise that he’s actually trying to propose a law in his region to allow this. He also said “We have to deal with such things” when asked about his views on homosexuality.

Regardless, let’s look at the real reasoning behind Russia’s increasing anti-LGBT sentiment and their laws silencing people. Actually I’ve already said it – or, rather, Alexey Mayorov said it. There is a need for “developing patriotism among the younger generation”. Translate this from official-speak and you get “Vladimir Putin is worried that he is losing the support of the younger generation”. Putin has reason to be wary; the legislative election in 2011 was met with large scale protests in Moscow over a voting system perceived by many to be corrupt.

Putin is using the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church and other right wing groups to create a Russia where homophobia is not only accepted, but encouraged by law. This feeds into a culture of reactionary fear of homosexual, bisexual and transgender people, and gives him more support from his people. The ban on “homosexual propaganda” being distributed to people under eighteen will result in a younger generation which will not question the homophobic laws, but will instead think they are necessary and therefore will be more likely to support Putin, and it all becomes a vicious circle where Putin benefits from keeping the Russian population intolerant. 

This post: now Putin-friendly!

There is a petition calling for world leaders to put more pressure on Putin to stop the crackdown on LGBT rights, which can be found here. I'll leave you with a quick thought: Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, with a few exceptions for slanderous speech, "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice". Under the new law passed by the State Duma, this blog post would look more like the picture to the left. Russia is taking away many of the basic human rights for LGBT people, and the world as a whole needs to be paying more attention or the situation for LGBT Russians will only get worse.