Homophobic Sentiment on the Rise in Russia
St. Petersburg recently passed a law banning "homosexual propaganda"
Russia's embattled gay and lesbian community has had a lot to contend with in recent months. Earlier this year, the country's second city, St. Petersburg, passed a law banning "homosexual propaganda." The law's supporters claimed it was necessary to "protect children." Now, LGBT activists in the city can be arrested and fined for anything that is deemed to promote homosexuality.
Besides slamming the legislation for seemingly codifying homophobic attitudes, critics say it is very vague in its wording and open to abuse by the authorities. Other cities, such as Arkhangelsk and Ryazon, have also adopted comparable laws and a bill to introduce a similar regulation across the entire country has been put before the State Duma.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?