Russian court labels LGBTQ+ media project Parni Plus an ‘extremist’ organization

A court in Russia’s Oryol Region has ruled in favor of a Justice Ministry lawsuit designating the queer media project Parni Plus an extremist organization, the project’s team announced.

Among the materials submitted to the court, Parni Plus said, was an expert assessment that treated stories about queer people from Russian regions, articles on self-acceptance, coverage of LGBTQ+ families, discrimination monitoring, and “even a webinar with a psychologist and a lawyer about the law on ‘promotion of LGBTQ+’” as evidence of “extremism.” Reports on violations of LGBTQ+ people’s rights were assessed by the experts as “hostile activity against Russia,” the project said.

“Parni+ has been working for an LGBTQ+ audience for nearly 18 years. All these years we wrote about health, mental well-being, rights, and the safety of the community, published guides, held webinars, consultations, and support groups. There was nothing ‘extremist’ about this work, and there still isn’t,” the project said.

The team said it would appeal the ruling and continue operating. “When the state declares extremists out of people who write about love, rights, and mental health, it is essentially admitting: the truth about LGBTQ+ people is more dangerous to it than any propaganda. And that is precisely why we cannot afford to go silent,” editor-in-chief Yevgeny Pisemsky wrote.

The Parni Plus website was founded in 2008 by workers at civil society organizations. The project focuses on sexual health and family relationships in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as issues related to living with HIV, and provides consultations for LGBTQ+ people seeking help. It publishes Russia’s largest LGBTQ+ media outlet. After Russia’s Supreme Court declared the nonexistent “International LGBT Movement” an extremist organization in November 2023, Parni Plus vowed to become “angrier and even more actively promote an anti-war and opposition agenda.”