Russia and LGBT etc.
Russia doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to LGBT rights and acceptance. However, it’s not impossible or illegal to live your life with any orientation there. What is banned (since 2013) is propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships ( Wikipedia).
Legislation
Reactions from that time to the law in Russia’s anti-gay law (The Economist, 2013, 8 m) and Putin signs law banning homosexual ‘propaganda’ (Euronews, 2013, 1 m). See also Russia: ‘Gay propaganda’ law remains in place, but complaints against it continue (CRIN).
More recent developments in LGBT Couples in Russia Face Greater Legislative Prejudice After Constitution Change (Bloomberg QuickTake, 2020, 2 m) and Russia’s Anti-Gay Law-Reax in Russia (CNN, 2016, 1.5 m).
Vice
Legislation and/or the LGBT climate as a reason to leave (or escape) Russia in Russia’s First Gay Married Couple Had To Run For Their Lives (Vice News, 2018, 5 m), with the Netherlands playing the role of savior. See also A Gay Russian Asylum-Seeker’s Struggle in America (Them, 2017, 12 m).
Putin
The president of Russia makes no secret of his stance on LGBT issues. Further explanation through the sources below, with more recent ones further down.
- Vladimir Putin on Gay Rights in Russia (Charlie Rose, 2015, 2 m)
- What Putin thinks about gays (BBC News, 2014, 3 m)
- ‘Welcome’ but warned – Russia’s Putin cautions gay visitors to Sochi (Euronews, 2014, 1 m)
Putin and Elton John
This news came out: Vladimir Putin, Elton John Allegedly Discuss Gay Rights (ABC News, 2015, 2 m). And Elton John ‘to meet President Putin’ to discuss LGBT rights (BBC News, 2015, 1 m).
Fake news. A prank. Putin would never call Elton John. Everyone knows that, except the extremely honored Elton John. The entire conversation is in Prank: ‘Putin’ called Elton John (Vovan222prank, 2015, 11 m), with the news being recalled in Elton John & ‘Vladimir Putin’ Prank Call (ABC News, 2015, 1 m).
It’s debatable whether a meeting would have made a difference, and if so, for whom.
- Vladimir Putin says Elton John is ‘mistaken’ about Russia’s attitude toward LGBT rights (SBS News, 2019, 2 m)
- Putin Responds To Elton John: Respect Majority! Liberals Invented 5 or 6 Genders: Transformers? (Russia Insight, 2019, 5 m)
- G20 Wraps Up – Putin Defends Russia’s ‘Anti-Gay-Grooming’ Stance Against Elton John’s Accusations (Vesti News, 2019, 9 m)
Transgender
The “T” in LGBT seems to be a bridge too far for Russia. See Russia has a new draft law with major consequences for transgender people (Meduza, 2020) and A New Russian Law Could Ban Trans People From Officially Changing Their Gender (The Moscow Times, 2020).
Reports (from 2015) that transgender people would be banned from driving are false, but are still widely circulated with few corrections. See, for example, Russia Bans Transgender People From Driving (Wall Street Journal, 2015, 2 m) and Russian Transgenders Will No Longer Qualify for Driver’s Licenses (David Pakman Show, 2015, 2 m). Read Russia Won’t Let Transgender People Drive (Time, 2015) and Russia Disqualifies Transgender People From Driving (Refrl, 2015).
The only debunking found was in Russia gives green light for transgender drivers to stay on the road (Reuters, 2015).
Outlaw
Transgender people in Russia do exist, and some are visible and open. See, for example, My Trans Life in Russia (Eva Borisova, 2019, 3 m), LGBT in Russia: Coming out as a transgender woman (PinkNews, 2018, 2 m) and Doc: Big Open Closet / Trans in Russia (My Genderation, 2018, 16 m). RT had a 2015 series TransReality, with episode 1 available on YouTube (RT Documentary, 2015, 25 m).
More recent (2019) and causing some controversy is the film Outlaw (Аутло). Directed by Ksenia Ratushnaya, more on IMDb.
- Outlaw: behind the scenes of Russia’s controversial upcoming LGBTQ drama (The Calvert Journal, 2020)
- The Russian movie ‘Outlaw’ is provoking backlash from the authorities and LGBTQ activists alike (Meduza, 2020)
- Director of Russian LGBTQ drama ‘Outlaw’ talks release backlash (Screen Daily, 2020)
- ‘Direct Censorship’: Racy Russian Teen Drama ‘Outlaw’ Won Awards, But Audiences Are Having Trouble Seeing It (rferl.org, 2020)
- Russian film festival director fined thousands for screening queer love story in worrying overstep of ‘gay propaganda’ law (Pink News, 2020)
Street Interviews and ‘Hate Speech’
Ordinary Russians also have their say, in their own way. The Big Red Button of the interviewer pushes for a bit of controversy – but that’s allowed, because diversity.
What Russians think about LGBT?
(1420, 2019, 8 m)
The curly-haired young man who set his sights on a pair of sneakers was re-interviewed a year later to see if he had changed his mind. Curly Guy didn’t budge, as seen in The Curly Guy: 1 Year Apart. Diversity in practice: ‘This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s policy on hate speech’.
Rainbow Flag
From the same channel and deemed acceptable is Russians react to LGBT flag on US embassy (2020, 4 m). See also Putin: Rainbow flag at US Embassy in Moscow ‘revealed something about the people that work there’ (The Hill, 2020) and Putin Mocks U.S. Embassy for Flying Rainbow Flag (US News, 2020).
Also, St. Petersburg school involves law enforcement over raising of LGBTQ pride flag and Pussy Riot activists arrested in Moscow for hanging rainbow flags on government buildings to mark Putin’s birthday (Meduza, 2020).
The rainbow itself, without a flag, has since become a sensitive issue. See Russian ice cream in ‘gay propaganda’ row (BBC, 2020) and Putin ally claims ice cream is ‘secret LGBT propaganda’ (The Times, 2020).
More
See
- Homosexuals in Russia. Do they exist? Russian explains (Crazy Russian Sergey, 2020, 33 m)
- Homophobia in Russia – Tatu – They’re not gonna get us (Mary Z, 2020, 18 m)
- Why is Russia Homophobic? LGBT History Documentary (Left1ne, 2019, 27 m)
- Кому выгодно ЛГБТ? (Алексей Шевцов, 2019, 13 m)
- ЛГБТ – метал и неправильная пропаганда sjw (СЕИН, 2019, 17 m)
- How to be gay, ‘A Jailed Freedom’, Margriet van der Linden in Vyborg (NPO, 2018, 40 m)
- Gay in Russia: Blogger tests ‘homophobic’ supermarket (DW News, 2017, 3 m)
- Gay rights in Russia (Global Journalist, 2017, 28 m)
- Was it OK to Be Gay in USSR? Soviet LGBT ‘Friendly’ Article 121 (Ushanka Show, 2016, 13 m)
- Дети-404: жизнь ЛГБТ-подростков (Открытка, 2015, 10 m)
- Hunted in Russia – documentary (Tunes, 2014, 48 m)
- Young and Gay in Putin’s Russia (Vice, 2014): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
- Russian Conservatism on Gay Issues Provokes Clash With West (VOA News, 2013, 3 m)
See/read
- LGBT rights in Russia (Wikipedia)
- «Надо держаться подальше, нельзя им доверять» (Lenta.ru, 2020)
- Russian constitution change ends hopes for gay marriage (NBC News, 2020)
- Russia’s queer youth want to be seen. A new online community is sharing their voices (Anastasiia Fedorova, The Calvert Journal 2020), Russia’s queer revolution (2020) by the same author.
And for related vocabulary: Сексуальная ориентация / русский язык (русский с носителем, 2020, 11 m).
last updated 19-12-2020
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