Putin’s Russia: First arrests under new anti-LGBT laws mark new era of repression

Published: April 8, 2024 5.04pm BST

Just over three decades after Russia decriminalised homosexuality in 1993, three people have been arrested and charged under the country’s harsh new anti-LGBT laws and could face ten years in prison for membership of an “extremist organisation”.

The arrests are a clear indication of how Russia has come full circle on its persecution of sexual minorities under Vladimir Putin.

On March 21, the district court of Orenburg city in south-western Russia ordered the arrest of nightclub owner Vyacheslav Khasanov. The nightclub, which is called Pose, has never explicitly identified as a gay club – styling itself as a “parody theatre bar”, it hosted parties with drag queen artists and go-go dancers as entertainment.

In a press release announcing the arrest, the court said that as the owner of the club, Khasanov organised participation in an extremist organisation, “acting as the leader of an organised group of persons by prior conspiracy”. The specific actions included organising the work of such premises, and publishing photos and videos from performances “promoting non-traditional sexual relationships and preferences”. Khasanov was arrested at the airport when trying to flee the country.

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His arrest followed the arrest and detention of two of his employees. The club’s art director, Alexander Klimov, and administrator Diana Kamelyanova were arrested and sentenced to two-months pre-trial detention for, the Orenburg court said, “promoting non-traditional sexual relations among the visitors of the bar”.

These three people are the first victims of the new repressive legal norm. At the end of November 2023, the Russian Supreme Court ruled that the “international LGBT movement” is an “extremist organisation”. That decision effectively criminalised homosexuality, 30 years after it was decriminalised in 1993.

But now it isn’t sexual activity that is outlawed, it’s the identity itself. If you openly identify as queer you are a part of an extremist organisation and subject to prosecution.

Russia’s ‘gay propaganda law’

This has been a long time coming. In 2013 Russia enacted the so-called “gay propaganda law”. Ostensibly aimed at protecting minors from information promoting non-traditional sexual relationships, the law effectively worked as a blanket censorship ban, stifling any neutral to positive expressions related to homosexuality.

The law was problematic from the very beginning, with ambiguous and unclear wording. That resulted in arbitrary and selective implementation by the authorities. In one case, people were fined for holding a banner with the words: “Children have the right to know. Great people are also sometimes gay. Gay people also become great. Homosexuality is natural and normal.” Sharing LGBT-related information on social media or posting photos of people of same-sex kissing were also deemed to be LGBT propaganda and subject to legal sanction.

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JB COMMENTS

In case you haven't noticed or got he point yet, many countries are reversing their LGBT protection laws and now consider the LGBT community to be illegal and could / will face up to ten years in jail JUST FOR BEING LGBT. Using mass misinformation as to how LGBT are all sex offenders - groomers of children - how we have an agenda to turn every child gay and sexually active - how drag queens who read story books to children are secretly grooming them and how all paedophiles are from the LGBT community - this kind of misinformation that - in actual fact - belongs over 90% to the straight world and this is clearly an avoidance of the truth - it pushes the blame for child abuse onto the LGBT world - misdirecting the reality of where it REALLY comes from and this puts children MORE AT RISK with people looking to the LGBT when the truth is very different.

Sadly - in the list here of countries that are listed as one of the best countries is the USA, but with recent Republican fear based LGBT hatred - it is fast becoming an UNSAFE country for LGBT.

Most groomers are within the family and / or church. Most paedophiles are family members or at least, family friends. Most groomers are straight - often work within a religious surroundings - they are not the drag queens at all and as for the Gay Agenda, WTF is that ? As an out gay man for over 50 years ( OMG ) I have never heard of the Gay Agenda - and while this is coming out of America and Russia where tons of lies and misinformation arise - this make believe fantasy of gays are all responsible for the worlds doom and gloom is just an avoidance from the reality that Russia is bogged down in an ugly war that is destined to end in abject failure - with mass death of innocent people - mass death of young Russian soldiers and it will be mass death to a country being ruled by a megalomaniac who is destined to destroy Russia and NOT build it into a powerhouse nation at all.

Same can be said about America. The Republicans are using the LGBT community to damn and destroy it because it blames all the woes of the world on the LGBT community with the same rhetoric - how we are all groomers, perverts, paedophiles and how we are terrorists fighting our LGBT agenda and this dangerous rhetoric is an excuse to divert peoples attention away from the BIGGER PICTURE of how these countries are in a mess - politically - and by turning the people against themselves - - in fighting -- half the battle for supremacy is done for them and they take power and then we are all lost.

Hitler: This is exactly how Hitler rose to power by damning and destroying the Jewish communities before and during the Second World War and a whole country turned against the Jews - turned a blind eye as to what was happening - turned their backs on those who had been their friends beforehand - and we all know what happened next.

DO NOT BE ARROGANT OR COMPLACENT AND ASSUME THIS WILL NOT COME TO THE UK - BECAUSE IT ALREADY HAS STARTED HERE.

DO NOT ASSUME THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN TO THE LGBT WORLD FURTHER AFIELD THAN RUSSIA AND AMERICA.

Try Poland and Hungary for a start.

Muslims are very anti LGBT. We already see them taking over our Christian church's - praying to Allah - in the streets taking over the street AND WE DO FUCK ALL TO STOP IT - it does seem as if the authorities in the UK are GIVING THE UK AWAY - and all we stand for - in its quest to be ' INCLUSIVE' - we are loosing our own identity as a Christian country and Muslims while few in number currently - , are exponentially growing in numbers and it is only a matter of a few years before laws will change and we will largely have Shia law and we LGBT will be treated just the same as in Russia.

MARK MY WORDS - IT IS COMING.

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