Although life in modern Russia allows many more liberties for gay men and lesbians than it did before the fall of communism, unofficial discrimination and fear are still rampant. "It would be foolish to interpret some new freedoms as tolerance," said Igor Kon, a sociologist who is Russia's best-known expert on sexual practices, and author of The Sexual Revolution in Russia. Gay life in Russia is less open than in Western countries.[1] With more quickly growing acceptance, major cities like Moscow and St Petersburg now have LGBT clubs and venues.[2]
In 1989, before the collapse of the USSR, 31 percent of the Russian population said in polls that homosexuals should be executed, and 32 percent said they should be isolated. Only 12 percent said they should be left alone. The figures are shifting slightly, however: in 1994, 23 percent in a poll said homosexuals should be killed, 24 percent said they should be isolated, and 29 percent said they should be left alone.[1]
"What everyone here knows -- gay or straight -- is how to have a private life that is different from their public life," said David Tuller, an American journalist and author of Cracks in the Iron Closet: Travels in Gay and Lesbian Russia. "In the West we would call that living a lie," he said. "Here they don't think that way. This is not a talk-show culture. Nobody is ever going to appear on television to talk about wanting to sleep with short men or tall women. They just want to be able to have their lives and not be bothered. For people here that would be a big step."[3]
Gay show in Saint Petersburg, 1900s photo by Karl Bulla.
Medieval Russia was apparently very tolerant of homosexuality, with foreign visitors to the country surprised by displays of affection between homosexuals. The first laws against homosexuals in Russia came about in the 18th century, under the reign of Peter the Great, but only in military statutes for soldiers.
In 1832, the criminal code included Article 995, which stated that "muzhelozhstvo", or men lying with men, was a criminal act punishable by exile to Siberia for up to 5 years. Men lying with men was interpreted by courts as meaning anal sex. Application of the laws was rare, and the turn of the century found a relaxation of these laws and a general growing of tolerance and visibility.[4]
In the wake of the October Revolution, the Bolshevik regime decriminalized homosexuality. The Bolsheviks rewrote the constitution and "produced two Criminal Codes – in 1922 and 1926 – and an article prohibiting homosexual sex was left off both."[5] The new Communist Party government removed the old laws regarding sexual relations, effectively legalising homosexual and transgender activity within Russia, although it remained illegal in other territories of the Soviet Union, and the homosexuals in Russia were still persecuted and sacked from their jobs.[5] Under Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union recriminalized homosexuality in a decree signed in 1933. The new Article 121, which punished "muzhelozhstvo" with imprisonment for up to 5 years, saw raids and arrests. Female homosexuals were sent to mental institutions. The decree was part of a broader campaign against "deviant" behavior and "Western degeneracy". Discrimination against LGBT individuals persisted in the Soviet era, and homosexuality was not officially declassified as a mental illness until 1999.[6]
Soviet Article 121 was often commonly used to extend prison sentences and to control dissidents. Among those imprisoned were the well-known film director Sergei Paradjanov and the poet Gennady Trifonov. Under Mikhail Gorbachev's administration in the late 1980s, the first gay organization came into being. The Moscow Gay & Lesbian Alliance was headed by Yevgeniya Debryanskaya and Roman Kalinin, who became the editor of the first officially registered gay newspaper, Tema. The fall of the USSR accelerated the progress of the gay movement in Russia. Gay publications and plays appeared. In 1993, a new Russian Criminal Code was signed, without Article 121. Men who had been imprisoned began to be released.
Modern gay life in Russia is in the process of increasing openness.[needs update] The first gay-oriented businesses appeared, including bars, discos, saunas, even a travel agency. Life for gays and lesbians in the provinces remains difficult, but there are gay communities and open gay culture in large cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg.[7] At a press conference on 1 February 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked for his opinion in the midst of a row over the decision by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov to ban a Gay pride parade in Moscow, called Moscow Pride. Vladimir Putin said: "With regards to what the heads of regions say, I normally try not to comment. I don’t think it is my business. My relation to gay parades and sexual minorities in general is simple – it is connected with my official duties and the fact that one of the country’s main problems is demographic. But I respect and will continue to respect personal freedom in all its forms, in all its manifestations."[8][9]
In 2013, Putin signed the so-called "Gay propaganda law", after it had been passed in the State Duma by an overwhelming majority. The law prohibits disseminating "propaganda" about homosexuality to minors.[10] A number of activists have been fined under the law for advocating the acceptance of homosexuality.[11][12][13]
Documentaries
Several documentaries about gay life in Russia surfaced in the 1990s after the fall of the USSR including Kiev Blue, To My Women Friends, and Moscow Fags.[14]
Moscow Pride '06, is a documentary about the first Moscow International LGBT Pride Festival. The premiere was held on November 27, just six months after the festival.[15] Some focuses of the documentary include the Nordic festival, the Russian gay cultural contest, Merlin Holland’s lecture on his grandfather Oscar Wilde and the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) Conference . Moscow Pride '06 also focuses on the trouble around The Kremlin and Moscow City Hall when participants gathered to protest the ban on the Moscow Pride march – and the Tverskoy Court decision to uphold Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's decision to ban the march. Vlad Ortanov, former editor of Argo, one of the oldest gay magazines in Russia, described the documentary as “a great human historical document that will say a lot to the future generations”.[16]
Media
There are modern gay journals such as Kvir along with older ones such as now defunct Tema, the first registered gay magazine.
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQIA+ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation or gender identity.
LGBT rights opposition indicates the opposition to legal rights, proposed or enacted, for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Laws that LGBT rights opponents may be opposed to include civil unions or partnerships, LGBT parenting and adoption, military service, access to assisted reproductive technology, and access to sex reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy for transgender individuals.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in Belarus face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Belarus. Households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. Belarus provides no anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people, nor does it prohibit hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Ukraine face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT individuals; historically, the prevailing social and political attitudes have been intolerant of LGBT people, and strong evidence suggests this attitude remains in parts of the wider society.
In the Russian Federation, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people face legal and social challenges not experienced by others. Although sexual activity between same-sex couples is legal, homosexuality is disapproved of by most of the population, and same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are ineligible for the legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. Russia provides no anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people and does not have a designation for hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Transgender people are allowed to change their legal gender without requiring sex reassignment surgery; however, there are currently no laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression, and recent laws could discriminate against transgender residents.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Moldova face legal and social challenges and discrimination not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same rights and benefits as households headed by opposite-sex couples. Same-sex unions are not recognized in the country, so consequently same-sex couples have little to no legal protection. Nevertheless, Moldova bans discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace, and same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1995.
Moscow Pride is a demonstration of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons (LGBT). It was intended to take place in May annually since 2006 in the Russian capital Moscow, but has been regularly banned by Moscow City Hall, headed by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov until 2010. The demonstrations in 2006, 2007, and 2008 were all accompanied by homophobic attacks, which was avoided in 2009 by moving the site of the demonstration at the last minute. The organizers of all of the demonstrations were Nikolai Alekseev and the Russian LGBT Human Rights Project Gayrussia.ru. In June 2012, Moscow courts enacted a hundred-year ban on gay pride parades. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly ruled that such bans violate freedom of assembly guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights.
Nikolay Alexandrovich Alexeyev is a Russian LGBT rights activist, lawyer and journalist.
This is a list of important events relating to the LGBT community from 1801 to 1900. The earliest published studies of lesbian activity were written in the early 19th century.
Russia recognizes neither same-sex marriage nor any other form of civil union for same-sex couples. Since 2020, the Russian Constitution explicitly outlaws same-sex marriage. Earlier Russian laws stipulate several provisions which prevent the recognition of legal foreign marriages in Russia and a marriage entered into by two persons of the same sex is not one of them. In the 2021 case Fedotova and Others v. Russia, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it was a violation of human rights for Russia not to offer any form of legal recognition to same-sex relationships.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in Chechnya have long been a cause of concern for human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. As a member of the Russian Federation, Russia's LGBT laws formally apply. De facto, there are no protections for LGBT citizens, and the Chechen authorities allegedly encourage the killing of people suspected of homosexuality by their families.
Communist attitudes towards LGBT rights have evolved radically in recent years. In the 19th and 20th century, communist parties and Marxist–Leninist states varied on LGBT rights; some were among the first political parties to support LGBT rights while others harshly persecuted people of the LGBT community.
Moscow Pride '06 is a documentary movie of the 2006 gay pride parade in Moscow.
Gayrussia.ru is an LGBT rights organization based in Moscow, Russia. It has organised numerous public actions in Russia, the most famous being Moscow Pride and Slavic Pride. It also sponsored the documentary Moscow Pride '06. In November 2008, Project GayRussia.Ru extended its advocacy work into Belarus where it launched the Slavic Gay Pride movement with its local partner Gaybelarus.by.
The history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) in Russia and its historical antecedents has largely been influenced by the political leanings of its rulers. Medieval Catholic-Protestant Europe had the largest influence on Russian attitude towards homosexuality. Russian LGBT history was influenced by the ambivalent attitude of the Russian Orthodox religiosity regarding sexuality.
During the lead-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics, protests and campaigns arose surrounding the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia.
The Russian federal law "for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating a Denial of Traditional Family Values", also referred to in English-language media as Russia's gay propaganda law or anti-gay law, is a bill that was unanimously approved by the State Duma on 11 June 2013, then unanimously approved by the Federation Council on 27 June 2013 and was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on 30 June 2013.
Elena Gennadyevna Kostyuchenko is a Russian journalist and gay rights activist. She is an investigative reporter for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the former Soviet Union face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Since 1 January 2016, in Estonia followed by Latvia, same-sex couples have recognition called a cohabitation agreement that gives the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. On 11 January 2019, the Supreme Court of Lithuania ruled that same-sex spouses must be granted residence permits, while a cohabitation agreement is pending.
Evgenia Evgenievna Debryanskaya or Yevgenia Debryanskaya is a Russian dissident and LGBT rights activist.
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