Russia’s anti-LGBT crackdown is punishing homophobes, too. Mediazona documents five cases of people penalized for posts that weren’t meant to promote LGBTQ rights.
Nearly three years ago, Russia’s Supreme Court banned the nonexistent “international LGBT movement” as extremist. Since then, “LGBT extremism” has become grounds for at least 14 criminal investigations and hundreds of citations for administrative offenses. Because the system often doesn’t look into the context in which a rainbow flag appears on social media, even homophobes end up being targeted. Mediazona has compiled cases in which opponents of same-sex relationships have been punished for “promoting” them.
How Russia passed laws targeting the queer community
In 2013, Russia passed a law banning the promotion of “nontraditional sexual relationships” to minors.
In December 2022, the authorities extended the ban on “gay propaganda” to people of all ages. They also amended the Code of Administrative Offenses to prohibit “promotion of pedophilia” and the distribution of information “capable of making minors want to change their sex.”
In November 2023, the Supreme Court outlawed the “international LGBT public movement” by declaring it an “extremist organization.”
- Vera Makeyeva, a retiree from Kurgan who welcomed Russia’s ban on the “LGBT movement,” was fined under that ban six months later — 1,500 rubles for old reposts of homophobic content featuring a rainbow flag. “It’s my own fault. I hadn’t cleaned up my photo albums in 13 years. Some people were interested enough to go through them,” Makeyeva told Mediazona.
- Pyatigorsk resident Pyotr Voronin was jailed for one day for an image showing the presidents of Ukraine and France alongside a swastika and a rainbow flag (both are considered extremist symbols in Russia). Voronin had intended to mock Ukraine and France — and was outraged that “the FSB’s AI decided I was spreading propaganda.” “I asked [in court], ‘So maybe I should officially apologize to Zelensky?’ Basically, the AI that reads our messages online is a complete idiot, and we mean nothing to it,” Voronin concluded.
- Vladimir Sugakov, a retiree from the Kemerovo region, was fined 100,000 rubles for “LGBT propaganda” in homophobic posts. Among the posts that caught law enforcement’s attention was a slideshow of photographs from Pride events set to Sergei Trofimov’s song “Petushki” (“Little Roosters,” Russian prison slang for gay men). Sugakov said the video criticized the LGBTQ community, but the police and the court didn’t bother to look into it. He decided against appealing the fine, saying he wasn’t an “idiot” who would “take on the system.”
- In Moscow, a video titled “Nazi Initiation” led to a 100,000-ruble fine. In it, a young man shaves his head, puts on clothes popular with neo-Nazi skinheads, and has sex with two similar-looking men. The video ends with an image of a swastika and the message “Join our ranks!!!” The Moscow resident who posted the video said he had done so “as a joke.” The court saw “LGBT propaganda” rather than humor.
- Father Grigory (Grzegorz Zwoliński), a Polish Catholic priest who lived in Kirov, had long criticized Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, who heads the Catholic Archdiocese of Moscow, for supporting the LGBTQ community. Father Grigory added a rainbow flag to one of his posts about Pezzi “to draw attention.” He was fined 1,000 rubles for it. The fine, in turn, led to the revocation of his Russian residence permit and a ban on re-entry. After 24 years in Russia, the priest returned to Poland, where he now writes that the “rainbow church” took revenge on him.
More on Russia’s LGBTQ community
Eksmo CEO and three other executives questioned in Russia’s case over LGBTQ-themed books
‘What even is propaganda?’How Russia’s murky anti-LGBTQ laws fuel a repressive campaign that makes the state millions
How LGBTQ Christians in Russia are holding on to their faith despite condemnation from the Russian Orthodox Church
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