Russian Supreme Court outlaws ‘international LGBT movement’

Russia’s Supreme Court has declared the “international LGBT public movement” an extremist organization, banning its activities countrywide. Reporters were allowed to hear the court’s decision, although no one was there to represent LGBTQ people, BBC reported. The hearing followed a motion from the justice ministry, despite the “international LGBT public movement” not existing as a legal entity. Ahead of the ruling, Sergei Troshin, a St. Petersburg municipal deputy who came out as gay last year, expressed serious concerns over the decision. “I think this will mean that anyone whom the state considers an LGBT activist could receive a long prison sentence for ‘participating in an extremist organization’,” he said. “This is real repression. There is panic in Russia’s LGBT community,” Troshin added. “People are emigrating urgently. The actual word we’re using is evacuation. We’re having to evacuate from our own country. It’s terrible.” Russia’s constitution was amended three years ago, explicitly defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, with no recognition of same-sex unions. Over the past years, Russia’s LGBT community has faced escalating pressure, with the adoption of a separate 2013 law prohibiting the “propaganda [amongst minors] of non-traditional sexual relations.” In Russia, mention of LGBTQ individuals has been removed from all kinds of media. Earlier this month, a Russian TV channel altered a rainbow in a South Korean pop video to prevent accusations of violating the “gay propaganda” law. When asked how Russia could ban an entity that doesn’t actually exist, Vitaly Milonov, a conservative member of the Russian parliament, said, “We can ban any activities from LGBT international organizations here in Russia. That’s nice. We don’t need them.”