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Notably, during World War II, the last great conflict on Russian borders, Josef Stalin mobilised the Church to stir up national support.

The LGBTQ+ bogey to consolidate power

As anthropologist Gayle Rubin wrote in ‘Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality’ (2007), “Disputes over sexual behaviour often become the vehicles for displacing social anxieties and discharging their attendant emotional intensity.”

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Scholar-activist Dennis Altman described gay rights in ‘The emergence of ‘modern’ gay identities and the question of human rights’ (2000) as a ‘marker of modernity’.

"Censorship and self-censorship lead to severe social isolation, which in turn worsens mental health."

(Reporting by Enrique Anarte; Editing by Jon Hemming.)

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The scope of this law was extended to include all adults in December 2022.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine stalled, and support for a prolonged campaign faltered domestically, the Kremlin doubled down on homophobia — ostensibly to justify the invasion by furthering the dichotomy between the “decadent” West and Putin’s regime which “protected traditional values”.

“They sought to destroy our traditional values and force on us their false values that would erode us, our people from within … attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to human nature,” Putin said in a televised address in February 2022.

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The role of the Orthodox Church

In its anti-LGBTQ+ crusade, the Kremlin has received support from Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and a long-term Putin ally.

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Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. Notably, there was significant progress made in the arena of LGBTQ+ rights. Police have also raided multiple gay clubs and LGBTQ+ events.

What challenges do LGBTQ+ Russians face?

The new survey showed that although many LGBTQ+ Russians are not out to their friends, family or colleagues, they can still face discrimination when trying to access education, jobs or healthcare. 

Only 25% of respondents said their doctors knew their sexual orientation or gender identity, but 29% said they had avoided going to the doctor at least once last year due fear of facing discrimination, even when they are were not out to healthcare professionals.

For trans people, the percentage avoiding a visit to a clinic was 53%.

The study also said 28% of LGBTQ+ Russians faced discrimination at work or in school due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, including being fired, bullied, disqualified from hiring processes or insulted by colleagues or educators.

That is despite 41% of them hiding their identity in the workplace or places of study, with many saying they had faced negative consequences after being outed.

"Repressive laws reinforce the homophobia and transphobia already present in Russian society," Nina Pavlova, a researcher at ComingOut, told Context.

"People who hold homophobic or transphobic beliefs become even more convinced that they are right and are more likely to act on these beliefs by firing queer people, denying them services or housing, and using violence against them."

How is censorship affecting LGBTQ+ Russians?

Since the 2013 "gay propaganda" ban, Russia's anti-LGBTQ+ law has been used to censor LGBTQ+ content on streaming platforms, online marketplaces and apps like Duolingo.

The new survey found that 88% of respondents said they were affected by the censorship with 91% censoring themselves in their daily lives, for example on social media or dating apps, to avoid repression and blackmail.

This makes it more difficult for them to access online and offline LGBTQ+ content, including healthcare and other services targeting the community as well as relevant news.

The survey also found that teachers and students avoid LGBTQ+ topics due to increased government scrutiny of educational institutions. 

"Queer people are going back into the closet," Pavlova said.

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gay putin

In Russia, Being Openly Gay Is 'Extremist.' But Some People Bend the Rules.

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges.

BERLIN - Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Russians say they live in fear of discrimination or worse at work, in schools and at medical centres, according to a survey released this week. 

The largest ever survey of LGBTQ+ communities was carried out by ComingOut and the Sphere Foundation, Russian rights groups supporting LGBTQ+ people in the country and abroad, and polled more than 6,400 people from Moscow to Russia's Far East. 

Here is what you need to know.

How has Russia targeted LGBTQ+ rights?

In 2013, Russian lawmakers passed a government-sponsored ban on distributing "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships" among minors, which led to activists being arrested and Pride marches banned.

In December 2022, after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin signed an amendment to the law, extending the prohibition to all age groups.

One year later, Russia banned trans people from changing their legal gender on identity documents or undergoing transition-related medical care such as sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy.

In March last year, Russia added what it calls the "LGBT movement" to a list of extremist and terrorist organisations, a decision that was in line with a Supreme Court ruling that LGBTQ+ activists should be designated as extremists.

The crackdown has led to the arrest of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists, with many others leaving the country.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a wave of liberalisation in Russia — both socially and economically. Thank you for standing with us.

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Not ready to support today? This symbolic association with modernity and progress is why gay rights, and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, become punching bags of conservative movements.

Also Read | Israel-Hamas war: Is Russia benefiting from the conflict?

For authoritarian populists, they thus become trojan horses to consolidate power by dichotomising gay rights and ‘family values’ to, as Rubin put it, “displace social anxieties” in an unjust and unequal neoliberal world order.

Kirill, in his support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, linked it to gay pride parades.

“Pride parades are designed to demonstrate that sin is one variation of human behaviour.

How Vladimir Putin has resorted to homophobia to consolidate his hold on Russia

“Essentially, it would entail criminal prosecution based solely on one’s orientation or identity,” a Russian LGBTQ+ activist told The Moscow Times.

This is the latest in a decade-long crackdown on gay rights in Russia under the regime of President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly emphasised on “traditional family values”.

Ramping up homophobia amidst the Ukraine War

In 2013, the Kremlin adopted what is popularly known as the “gay propaganda” law, banning any non-critical public depiction of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors.

The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. That’s why in order to join the club of those countries [the NATO], you have to have a gay pride parade,” he said in a sermon in March 2022.

However, discontent arising out of this liberalisation — poverty, crime, corruption, etc.
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— aided the rise of Vladimir Putin, as well as his cult of personality.

Putin has pushed Russia down a far more conservative path, especially since the 2010s, when his hold over power was at its most tenuous.“The appeal to faith, family, and tradition has ever been the last recourse for dictators,” journalist Melik Kaylan wrote in ‘Kremlin Values: Putin’s Strategic Conservatism’ (2014).

Characterising gay pride parades as a “loyalty test” to Western governments, Kirill claimed that Ukraine’s breakaway republics have “fundamentally rejected” them, and that is why Russia’s invasion is “far more important than politics.”

In Opinion | Reports of Russia’s decline are greatly exaggerated

The Russian Orthodox Church has over a 100 million followers in Russia (of a total population of roughly 140 million), and historically has had close ties with the Kremlin — even during certain periods of Soviet rule.

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