Background of LGBT Rights in Russia
Although certain regimes had a more favorable view, other regimes and leaders violated the human rights of LGBT people in Russia, with persecution continuing today. Male homosexuality was at first criminalised by Tsarist regime in 1835. When Tsarist Russia was defeated and swept aside by the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, all the established law set by Tsarist government were banished, including the one criminalises homosexuality. But it didn’t mean that Homosexuality is legalized in Russia. In fact, the country went more conservative and institutionalized especially after Joseph Stalin came to power. In 1933, Stalin accepted a proposed law to legalized the arrest and conviction of homosexuals, which last until 1993, when the USSR collapsed. In 1934, Soviet Union claimed that homosexuality is again, criminalised. At that time, hundreds to thousands of men were arrested each year for performing homosexual behavior and sent to camps where they were treated as the lowest of the low in the camp hierarchy(Quince, 2013). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, LGBTQ people continue to be persecuted in the Russian Federation, even in 2017.
Timeline:
1835: Tsarist Regime criminalized Male Homosexuality
1917: Bolshevik Revolution, homosexuality decriminalized
1929: Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
1933: Stalin criminalized homosexualitiy
1991: Fall of the USSR
1993: Decriminalization of homosexuality
2006: Regions of Russia begin banning “homosexual propaganda”
2006: First attempt at gay pride parade in Moscow
2012: St. Petersburg bans homosexual propaganda
2012: Mayor of Moscow bans gay pride demonstrations for 100 years
2017: First reports of gay men in Chechnya beings persecuted
The Russian translation of this poster is "Always Together!" picture
The USSR and Homosexuality
When one thinks of the Soviet Union and homosexuality, usually the terms that come to mind are illegal, criminalized, discrimination. But shockingly, this was not always the case. There was a brief period of time where “homosexuality was decriminalized, transgender people were allowed to serve in the army, and an openly gay man was minister of foreign affairs” (Bay, 2016) These rather forward thinking policies towards LGBTQ rights were passed under Lenin and Trotsky’s leadership, and were in place from 1917 to 1926. Unfortunately, and rather unsurprisingly, when Stalin took over these policies were immediately overturned, and homosexuality made illegal in 1933, with a prison hard labor sentence of up to five years. Yet the LGBTQ community still existed, and Yevgeniy Fiks, a Russian American artist, decided to document a piece of gay history in the Soviet Union that was previously undocumented. His book documents picture of gay cruising sites in the Soviet Union, where gay men and women would meet secretly for dates. Fiks also documented gay cruising sites in the United States, as there was a correlation between the attitudes of the Soviet Union and the United States towards homosexuality during the Cold War. Both countries agreed that they didn’t want gay people, and blamed the fact that they were in their country on each other. In the United States, this had the effect of tying together anti-communist and anti-gay witch hunts, because both were seen as trying to undermine the United States.
The Russian Federation and Homosexuality
Since the fall of the USSR in 1991 and the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1993, Russian activists have been trying to create a real LGBT community in their country. LGBT people have been invisible in Russian society with the government almost trying to deny their existence. In 1993, even though the law that criminalized homosexuality was annulled, 75 men remained in prison for being gay. Dozens of LGBT rights groups were created in the 1990’s and they started their work with getting the people out of prison and decriminalizing homosexuality. Since violence against out LGBT people was common from the 1990’s until the early 2000’s, Russian LGBT people used their lack of visibility to stay in the closet and protect themselves from harm. In 2006, certain regions of Russia began banning homosexual propaganda, most notably, St. Petersburg in 2012. There was a fear that if these anti-homosexual laws could pass in St. Petersburg, the laws could pass anywhere in Russia. In the 2000’s, LGBT rights groups moved forward to fight laws in a different way than groups in the 90’s. In Moscow, activists tried to organize a gay pride demonstration in 2006. The group was denied permission to hold their events, but the activists marched anyway. Unfortunately, the “marchers were violently attacked by anti-gay Russian nationalist groups” (Schaaf, 2014). And as gay sentiments grew worse, in 2012, Mayor Luzkhkov of Russia banned gay pride demonstrations in his city for 100 years. Another major event in the lives in LGBT Russians in the recent human rights violations of gay and bisexual men in Chechnya. Since April 2017, “reports indicate more than 100 gay and bisexual Chechen men have been arrested and detained without charge” and “there have been numerous verified reports of torture and at least three and possibly as many as 20 men have been killed” (McBride, 2017) . After being accused of such atrocities, Chechen officials deny that these events have happened, but deny the existence of LGBT people at all in Chechnya. Many activist groups from inside and outside Russia have been working to secure the rights of LGBT Russians, but recent news show that there is a long way to go.
In Conclusion
With human rights violations, history, and current relations between Russia and the U.S. considered, the safety of the LGBT community within Russia alongside foreign issues and events is concerning. The Olympics, having served as a prime opportunity to engage in political statements or protests, successfully shed light on the issue in questioning the safety of LGBT athletes/participants in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Though there are many cultural and religious motivations behind anti-gay laws, especially in Chechnya to which Dewan details, “being gay is considered by many in the Muslim-majority republic to be shameful, and in Chechnya the practice of so-called honor killings -- murder by family members to expunge shame -- is widespread” (2017), the concern for human rights will not likely reach a decline alongside the persistent voice of LGBT movements and groups. Despite this persistence however, many Russian nationalists defend anti-gay laws as an expression of concern for population decline, to which Polyakova offers, “to Putin and many Russians who support him, European cultural liberalism that grants equal rights to same-sex couples is not only degenerate, but also a threat to Russia’s survival as a nation” (2014). All in all, with anti-western sentiments considered, LGBT movements specific to Russia will steadily hold political, social, and cultural significance.
Bibliography
Bay, Timothy. The October Revolution and LGBTQ+ Struggle. 25 Mar. 2016, socialistappeal.org/news-analysis/fight-for-equality/1743-the-october-revolution-and-lgbtq-struggle.html. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.
Bowring, B. Gay Rights in Russia . 12 Jan. 2016, criticallegalthinking.com/2015/06/04/gay-rights-in-russia/. Accessed 18 Sept. 2017.
Dewan, Angela. Merkel Pushes Putin on Chechnya Gay Detention Reports. 2 May 2017, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A490992891/OVIC?u=usfca_gleeson&xid=af2220c6. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.
FitzGerald, Nora. Gay in the USSR. 26 Mar. 2013, foreignpolicy.com/2013/03/26/gay-in-the-ussr/. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.
McBride, B. LGBT Network's Report Highlights Chechnya's Atrocities. 2017, www.hrc.org/blog/five-horrific-testimonies-in-lgbt-networks-report-highlights-chechnyas-atro. Accessed 18 Sept. 2017.
Polyakov, Alina. “STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: Putin and Europe's Far Right.” 2014, www.jstor.org/stable/43555253. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.
Quince, Annabelle. The History of Homosexuality in Russia: From Soviet Sex Changes to Gay Gulags. 4 Dec. 2013, s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130810&t=2&i=759240577&r=CBRE97916XZ00&w=1280. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.
Schaaf, M. Harriman Magazine: Winter 2014. 2014, harriman.columbia.edu/news/newsletter/harriman-magazine-winter-2014. Accessed 18 Sept. 2017.
This was very well researched and provided a great overview for this topic, good job!
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