coming out equals participation in the “extremist community”

A public coming out will be equated to “participation in the international extremist LGBT community”, according to the response of the Ministry of Justice of the Stavropol Territory to the relevant request.

The department also stated that the rainbow flag will be considered a symbol of the “LGBT movement” recognized by the Russian authorities as extremist.

However, on Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Russia returned without consideration the complaint of the “International LGBT Public Movement” against its ban in the Russian Federation.

It is noted that the “movement” itself, which does not officially exist, was specially created for the Supreme Court session by LGBT activists to try to participate in the case and challenge the ban. Now the activists plan to appeal the refusal.

At the end of November, the Supreme Court of Russia satisfied the lawsuit of the Ministry of Justice, banned the non-existent international LGBT movement and declared it extremist. The lawsuit was considered without a defendant and in closed session, only a representative of the Ministry of Justice participated in the meeting.

Prior to this, the Russian authorities adopted a number of repressive laws against LGBT people, including a complete ban on so-called LGBT propaganda and a de facto ban on transgender transition and changing the gender marker in documents.

• According to human rights activists, after the start of the war with Ukraine and the adoption of discriminatory amendments, 83% of surveyed LGBT+ representatives noticed an increase in homophobic and/or transphobic attitudes in Russian society. Also, LGBT people are less likely to turn to the police in case of discrimination and violence: they fear that they will face repeated discrimination.