An unauthorised rally following the results of the vote on amendments to the Russian Constitution in the Pushkinskaya square in Moscow, Russia, 15 July 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV
Following a move by Russia’s Justice Ministry to outlaw a nonexistent “global LGBT movement” last week, a group of Russian LGBT activists has announced the founding of just such an organisation.
By founding an organisation that the Russian government seeks to classify as “extremist”, activists plan to defend their interests in Russia’s Supreme Court, the activists told Telegram channel Sirena on Wednesday.
Seven Russian human rights organisations filed their own motion with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, calling for it to throw out the Justice Ministry’s motion.
“You can’t call a group of people a social movement just because they belong to a social group or have some personal characteristics in common. It’s as absurd as calling all pensioners or people of a certain ethnicity a social movement,” they wrote.
They added that declaring the LGBT movement an extremist organisation would lead to discrimination, in violation of both Russian and international law.
“Categorising the “LGBT movement” as extremist would effectively mean exerting state control over beliefs and the imposition of “traditional” family values, while also flouting the provisions within the constitution which define Russia as a secular state,” they concluded.
