Russia seeks LGBT ban

Russian officials said Friday they are seeking a ban on the "international LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) public movement," building on a crackdown against liberal-leaning groups that has intensified since Moscow deployed troops to Ukraine.

Russia's justice ministry said it had "lodged an administrative legal claim with the Supreme Court to recognize the International LGBT public movement as extremist and ban its activity in Russia."

The ministry did not specify whether it was seeking the closure of any specific groups or organizations, or if the designation would apply more broadly to the LGBTQ community, causes and individuals.

The proposed ban is the latest in a long-standing crackdown against LGBTQ people in Russia, which has escalated since Russia launched its offensive on Ukraine last February.

Russia has used the extremist label against swathes of rights organizations and opposition groups, opening up their members to criminal prosecution.

The justice ministry accused the "LGBT movement operating on the territory of the Russian Federation" of "various signs and manifestations of extremism, including incitement to social and religious hatred."

It did not specify what exactly it meant by that movement, but said a court hearing was scheduled for 30 November.

The head of the Sphere human rights group, which advocates for the Russian LGBTQ community, criticized the announcement.

"Russian authorities are once again forgetting that the LGBT+ community are human beings," Sphere head Dilya Gafurova, who has left Russia, said.

Authorities "don't just want to erase us from the public field: they want to ban us as a social group," Gafurova added.

Anti-LGBTQ campaign

"It's a pretty typical move for repressive non-democratic regimes — the persecution of the most vulnerable," Gafurova said.

"We will continue our fight," Gafurova added.

Amnesty International's director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Marie Struthers, denounced a "deeply cynical move aimed at dehumanizing and persecuting the entire LGBTI community."

Proposed ban is the latest in a long-standing crackdown against LGBTQ people.

"Life in silence and in fear of humiliation and imprisonment — this is the price that the state wants to impose on countless LGBTI people in Russia," Amnesty added.

Since launching the Ukraine offensive — often portrayed as an existential fight against Western liberal values — Russia has accelerated its campaign against LGBTQ groups.

In July lawmakers banned medical intervention and administrative procedures that allowed people to change gender.

Lawmaker Pyotr Tolstoy then said the bill was about "erecting a barrier to the penetration of Western anti-family ideology."

WITH AFP