LGBT rights in Russia
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.[6][7] Although sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex is legal,[1] homosexuality is disapproved of by most of the population and pro-LGBT advocacy groups are deemed "extremist" and banned. It is illegal for individuals to "promote homosexuality" and same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are ineligible for the legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. Russia provides no anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people and does not have a designation for hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Transgender people are not allowed to change their legal gender and all gender-affirming care is banned. There are currently no laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression, and recent laws could be used to discriminate against transgender residents.
LGBT rights in Russia
De jure legal for consenting men same-sex sexual activity since 1993 but not criminalised for women.[1] "Promotion" of LGBT identity illegal since 2013 (homosexuality) and 2022 (transidentity)
Gender change legal between 1997 and 2023, illegal afterwards
LGBT people can serve in the army, there are no restrictions.[4]
None
Same-sex marriage constitutionally banned since 2020[note 2]
Allowed to adopt by a single person[note 3]
Russia has long held strongly negative views regarding homosexuality, with recent polls indicating that a majority of Russians are against the acceptance of homosexuality and have shown support for laws discriminating against homosexuals. Despite receiving international criticism for the recent increase in social discrimination, crimes, and violence against homosexuals, larger cities such as Moscow[8] and Saint Petersburg[9] have been said to have a thriving LGBT community. However, there has been a historic resistance to gay pride parades by local governments; despite being fined by the European Court of Human Rights in 2010 for interpreting it as discrimination, the city of Moscow denied 100 individual requests for permission to hold Moscow Pride through 2012, citing a risk of violence against participants. In 2016, Russia was rated the second least LGBT-friendly nation in Europe by ILGA-Europe.[10] In 2024, the status of LGBT rights in Russia was ranked the worst out of the 49 countries surveyed within Europe.[11]
In December 1917, after the October Revolution, the Russian Soviet Republic (later the Russian SFSR) decriminalised homosexuality.[12] However, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin would later recriminalise sex between men in March 1934 with the addition of Article 154-a to the Soviet criminal code, which punished consensual anal sex between men with three to five years' imprisonment.[13] The revised criminal code of 1961 continued to classify sexual relations between men as a crime, relocating it to Article 121 and providing for only a maximum of five years' imprisonment for consensual sex.[14] Western observers estimated that, during the Soviet era, between 800 and 1000 men were imprisoned per year under Article 121.[15] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, homosexual acts between consenting males were re-legalised in 1993 (they had not been criminalised for women), removing Article 121 from the RSFSR penal code.[1]
Since 2006, under Vladimir Putin, regions in Russia have enacted varying laws restricting the distribution of materials promoting LGBT relationships to minors; in June 2013, a federal law criminalizing the distribution of materials among minors in support of non-traditional sexual relationships was enacted as an amendment to an existing child protection law.[16] The law has resulted in the numerous arrests of Russian LGBT citizens publicly opposing the law and there has reportedly been a surge of anti-gay protests, violence, and even hate crimes. It has received international criticism from human rights observers, LGBT activists, and media outlets and has been viewed as a de facto means of criminalizing LGBT culture.[17] The law was ruled to be inconsistent with protection of freedom of expression by the European Court of Human Rights but as of 2021 has not been repealed.[18] In 2022, the law was extended to apply to anyone regardless of age, thus making any expression deemed a promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships illegal.[19][20]
In a report issued on 13 April 2017, a panel of five expert advisors to the United Nations Human Rights Council—Vitit Muntarbhorn, Sètondji Roland Adjovi; Agnès Callamard; Nils Melzer; and David Kaye—condemned the wave of torture and killings of gay men in Chechnya.[21][22]
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the authorities have stepped up reactionary measures, particularly against trans people.[23] On 24 July 2023, President Putin signed into law a bill banning gender-affirming care in Russia.[24]
On 30 November 2023, the Supreme Court ruled the international LGBT movement to be "extremist," outlawing it in the country.[25] The next day, Russian security forces raided bars, male saunas and nightclubs across Moscow.[26][27][28][29][30]
Employment discrimination
Anton Krasovsky, a television news anchor at government-run KontrTV, was immediately fired[97][98] from his job in January 2013 when he announced during a live broadcast that he is gay and disgusted by the national anti-gay propaganda legislation that had been proposed although had not yet passed.[50][99]
In September 2013, a Khabarovsk teacher and gay rights activist, Alexander Yermoshkin, was fired from his two jobs as school teacher and university researcher.[100] A week earlier, he had been attacked by members of a local neo-Nazi group "Shtolz Khabarovsk".[101] An activist group called "Movement against the propaganda of sexual perversions" had campaigned for his dismissal.[102]
Viewpoints of political parties
The federal law banning LGBT propaganda among minors was passed unanimously by the Russian Duma; as the bill amended an existing child protection law, it is difficult to know whether or not all of the MPs, and their respective political parties, supported every aspect of the bill or not. A few political parties without members in the Duma have expressed some limited support for LGBT rights.
Yabloko is a member of the Liberal International, and has organised public demonstrations against intolerance under the banner of building a "Russia without pogroms".[103]
The Libertarian Party of Russia, formed in 2007, has objected to the government ban on "gay propaganda" as a violation of people's right to freedom of speech.[104]
In 2016, two openly gay men ran for seats in the Russian duma. While they admit that they probably will not win a seat, they were supported by a liberal coalition. They are also probably the first openly gay candidates to run for seats in the Russian parliament.[105]
The LGBT rights organisation Gayrussia.ru has been monitoring homophobic political parties since 2011.[106] In the middle of 2013 their list included:[107] United Russia, Communist Party of Russian Federation, Narodnaya Volya, National Bolshevik Party, National Bolshevik Front, Patriots of Russia, Eurasian Youth Union and Fair Russia.
President Vladimir Putin has used the existence of transgender rights in other countries as justification for the potential deployment of nuclear weapons against Ukraine. In a speech given on September 30, 2022, Putin said "Do we want things that lead to degradation and extinction to be imposed on children from elementary school? Do we want them to be taught that instead of men and women, there are supposedly some other genders and to be offered sex-change surgeries? This is unacceptable to us." before following up by stating that Russia would be willing to use "all means at our disposal" against Ukraine, and saying that the United States "created a precedent" when it used nuclear weapons against Japan in 1945, mirroring comments by other Russian officials that nuclear weapons were on the table.[108]
In Tsarist Russia, young women would sometimes pose as men or act like tomboys. This was often tolerated among the educated middle classes, with the assumption that such behavior was asexual and would stop when the girl married.[127] However, cross-dressing was widely seen as sexually immoral behavior, punishable by God promoted through the Church and later criminalized by the government.[127]
In Soviet Russia, sex reassignment surgeries were first tried during the 1920s but became prohibited until the 1960s. Later they were performed by Irina Golubeva, an endocrinologist, authorized by psychiatrist Aron Belkin, who was the strongest Soviet advocate for transgender people until his death in 2003.[127]
On 29 December 2014, Russia passed a road safety law, allowing the government to deny driver's licenses to people with several classes of mental disorders according to ICD-10.[128] Class "F60-69 Disorders of adult personality and behaviour" includes "F64 Transsexualism"[129] Russian and foreign critics perceived the law as a ban on transgender drivers: journalist Yelena Masyuk questioned the relevance of a person's transgender identity in regards to their ability to drive.[130][131] On 14 January 2015, Russia's Health Ministry clarified the law, stating that it would only deny licenses to those with disorders that would impair their ability to drive safely, and explicitly stated that one's sexual orientation would not be considered a factor under the law, as it is not considered a psychiatric disorder.[132]
In 2018, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation developed a draft medical certificate that will help transgender people with confirming their gender identity on their legal documents. The Ministry of Justice approved this document on January 19, 2018. Up to this point, changes related to the gender change could only be made to the documents on the basis of a court decision. The Ministry of Health explained that, in accordance with the legislation, the registry offices make changes to the birth certificate if a mentioned certificate is submitted.
A certificate of gender change required to change person's gender in documents such as a birth certificate and passport, and can be obtained on the basis of a medical commission consisting of a psychiatrist, a sexologist and a medical psychologist. Neither sex-affirmative surgery nor hormone replacement therapy required. The minimum duration of psychiatric observation is not specified in the final document of the Ministry of Health.[133][134] On average, the commission lasts from 2 days to 1 month.
On 31 May 2023, a bill to legally ban individuals having any sex change and reassignments within Russia, annulling marriages with partners that have changed gender and banning said individuals from adopting children was introduced in the State Duma.[23] On 19 July, the bill unanimously passed its three required readings in the State Duma (lower house of parliament).[135][136]
On 19 July, the upper house of parliament unanimously approved the bill as well.[136]
On 24 July, the bill was signed into law by Russian president Vladimir Putin.[137] State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the number of gender reassignment surgeries in the U.S. has increased by 50 times over the past 10 years, and around 1.4% of all US teenagers aged between 13 and 17 identified themselves as transgender in 2022. He said “This is the path leading to the degradation of a nation”, stating that the newly adopted law was designed to avoid such a scenario[138]
In July 2023, Russia enacted the "Law Banning Gender Transition in Russia", which includes the following provisions:[139][140]
In January 2024, Meduza reported that Russia's MVD had begun bringing transgender people in for questioning. According to one transgender subject, he was questioned about where he got the medical certificate approving his transition, how much it cost, who was on the committee to approve it, and if he had attended any LGBT parties. After answering that he didn't remember the answer to the last question, he was told that they would keep bringing him in until he did.
He was also told that if his approval certificate turned out to be invalid, that he would be forcibly detransitioned.[142]