Displaying items by tag: russia

The recent decision by a St. Petersburg court to dissolve the Charitable Foundation Sphere, one of Russia’s leading LGBTQ charities, has caused a great deal of consternation among the country’s LGBTQ community.

The court’s decision comes when LGBTQ activists in the country are already facing increased scrutiny and harassment from the authorities. In recent months, several LGBTQ activists have been listed as foreign agents and forced to leave the country.

The dissolution of the Charitable Foundation Sphere is likely to further embolden those who seek to persecute and marginalize the LGBTQ community in Russia.

Last year, the fashion in Poland was for “LGBTQ-free zones”.

Each of the 100 Polish municipalities that joined this hate movement passed an anti-LGBTQ resolution and carefully placed an “LGBTQ-Free Zone” sign at the entrance of their cities.

Since then, the European Union (EU) has been hitting in their wallet.

Six of these municipalities have been sanctioned for their anti-LGBTQ stance thanks to the work of Helena Dalli, the European Commissioner for Equality, who has been instrumental in the EU’s decision-making.

Dalli had affirmed that “EU values and fundamental rights must be respected by member states and public authorities.”

When I covered these unprecedented EU sanctions, I wondered whether they would continue and whether other sanctions would emerge.

Well, today, here’s the beginning of an answer.

Well, in Russia, it’s no fun for the LGBTQ community!

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated in a recent interview his intention to prohibit marriage equality in the Russian constitution with an amendment.

Russia is anti-LGBTQ as you know. The anti-LGBTQ “propaganda” law adopted in 2013 prevents any public existence of our community without fear of arrests and there is increasing violence against LGBTQ+ people.

President Vladimir Putin recently held a press conference, as there may soon be changed in the Russian constitution. They mentioned LGBTQ rights during this conference, and this is what they said:

Yulia Tsvetkova, Yelena Grigoryeva, and Yekaterina Lysikh are proud of being LGBTQ women. Recently, all three were victims of violence, and one of them did not recover from it.