In Russia, it is becoming increasingly dangerous to belong to a gender or sexual minority. The country’s Supreme Court on Thursday banned the “international LGBT movement” amid a conservative shift in the country over extremism, paving the way for lawsuits against any group that defends LGBT+ rights.
Judge Oleg Nefedov ordered “to recognize the international LGBT movement and its affiliates as extremists and to ban their activities on the territory of the Russian Federation,” according to AFP correspondents on the ground. Oleg Nefedov specified that this ban came into force “immediately”.
No organization clearly being targeted
The hearing was held without a lawyer because there was no organization called the International LGBT Movement in Russia, and behind closed doors because the case was classified as “secret.” In mid-November, the Russian Justice Ministry called for it to be classified as an “extremist organization” and to ban “the international LGBT movement,” without clearly saying which organization it was targeting.
Any public activity related to what Russia considers “non-traditional” sexual preferences could now be punished as “extremism,” a crime punishable by heavy prison sentences. Until now, LGBT+ people have faced heavy fines for engaging in “propaganda,” as authorities call it, but not prison time.