RUSSIA/FILE: Violence against gays and lesbians in Russia increased by 300% in 2012

Record ID: 277801

  • Title: RUSSIA/FILE: Violence against gays and lesbians in Russia increased by 300% in 2012
  • Date: 21st March 2013
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MARCH 20, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KREMLIN
  • Embargoed: 5th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6W9X2CV524WULGERPFNRWS2I8
  • Story Text: Violence against gays and lesbians in Russia increased by 300% in 2012, gay activists say, as Russian legislators pursue measures to prohibit public displays "promoting" homosexuality.
    Bans on exposing minors to "homosexual propaganda" are already in place in a number of Russian regions, some of which were packaged up with bans on promoting paedophilia. Critics say they are loosely worded enough to slap a fine of up to $170 on those holding hands or sharing a kiss with a same sex partner in public.
    A parliamentary committee on family, children and women's issues introduced the nationwide ban last year after St Petersburg, the second largest city in the mostly Russian Orthodox country, passed a similar law.
    Analysts say right-wing radicals see the legislation as a green light in the conservative society to carry out vigilante attacks. And more gay rights protests against the law last year also gave extremists opportunities to carry out attacks.
    Alexander Verkhovsky, who heads the human rights group Sova which tracks extremist violence, says there were 12 documented attacks last year, up from three in 2011, but those are barely the tip of the iceberg.

    "We didn't really separate this topic in previous years because these attacks were known mainly as one-offs. LGBT organisations themselves know only a few of such attacks, I mean those motivated by hatred to LGBT, because it's difficult to collect such data, victims tend not to report or tell about it to anyone, and so on," Verkhovsky said.

    "Last year for the first time we actually had to dedicate a whole chapter to that as the number (of attacks) had significantly increased. So in 2011 we knew only about three such attacks, three victims, last year there were 12. In reality this number is even bigger but that's what we know," he added.
    Russian gay activist Igor Yasin counts on his fingers the number of times he and his friends have been beaten up in recent months; before he loses count and gives up.
    The attacks have become so bad, Yasin admitted, and police protection is so meagre, that four months ago he and nearly 20 other activists started their own martial arts classes at a gym in southern Moscow where they meet three times a week.
    The 32-year old says all the attacks include the same elements: an extremist right wing group, a violent encounter on a Moscow street and a conspicuous lack of police interest. And he says attacks have only gotten worse over the last year.

    "Yes, obviously in the last year, or maybe a little more, the violence against activists has grown significantly. (It happens) at various actions, there are attacks during events. I tie it to the homophobic politics consciously conducted by our authorities," Yasin said, adding that gay community's destiny was intertwined with the country's.

    "The fate of gay emancipation, homophobia in our society are closely tied to the destiny of Putin's regime. As long as Putin's regime has both feet on the ground we will not live well. But maybe things will change for the better later. I'm even sure it'll to become better," he said.
    Russia's parliament, or State Duma, backed a draft law on banning "homosexual propaganda" in late January 2013.
    Duma deputy and a member of pro-government United Russia party Sergei Zheleznyak told journalists that voters requested the ban be adopted.

    "This is a request from our voters, they, of course, fully understand that it's the right of an adult to define the way they want to live and what kind of partners to choose for their personal lives. But this cannot be promulgated to children and to the under-aged so that it doesn't form false perception of the values that we don't embrace," Zheleznyak said.
    Another Duma deputy Valentina Pivenko said that she does not mind people doing whatever they want as long as it is not in public.

    "I think everyone has a right to do whatever they want to. But they should do it the way that others who find it disgusting don't see it. I am against that, I'm a normal person, I'm a normal woman. And I don't want my son or my cousins to see those, excuse my language, I don't even know what to call them," Pivenko said.
    Homosexuality was a crime in the Soviet Union, but more than 20 years after its fall, pressure on gays is again on the rise.
    Critics say Putin is playing up to spurious fears to shore up his popularity among a largely conservative population at the expense of liberals and the LGBT community, who are more likely to experience violence now than in previous years.
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