{"id":34407,"date":"2024-05-23T16:28:16","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T13:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/?p=34407"},"modified":"2024-05-27T16:50:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T13:50:23","slug":"rerussia-flagships-of-homophobia-discrimination-against-the-lgbtq-community-has-become-a-key-tool-of-authoritarian-populism-and-the-promotion-of-an-anti-western-agenda-in-the-post-soviet-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/publications-about-us\/media-about-us\/rerussia-flagships-of-homophobia-discrimination-against-the-lgbtq-community-has-become-a-key-tool-of-authoritarian-populism-and-the-promotion-of-an-anti-western-agenda-in-the-post-soviet-space\/","title":{"rendered":"RE:RUSSIA: Flagships of Homophobia: Discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community has become a key tool of authoritarian populism and the promotion of an anti-Western agenda in the post-Soviet space"},"content":{"rendered":"

RE:RUSSIA<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
Over the two years of\u00a0the war, the situation surrounding the issue of\u00a0the LGBTQ+ community in\u00a0the post-Soviet space has seriously deteriorated. This deterioration is\u00a0evident in\u00a0Central Asian countries where ‘non-traditional relationships’ were already criminalised or\u00a0semi-criminalised, as\u00a0well as\u00a0in\u00a0countries like Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and\u00a0Georgia, which previously maintained a\u00a0policy of\u00a0neutrality and\u00a0non-interference in\u00a0LGBTQ+ issues. Human rights organisations report increased discrimination and\u00a0direct repression against LGBTQ+ individuals in\u00a0these nations. Russia plays a\u00a0special role in\u00a0this shift, acting as\u00a0a\u00a0flagship of\u00a0this crackdown, leveraging it\u00a0for conservative mobilisation and\u00a0as\u00a0a\u00a0tool of\u00a0authoritarian populism. These initiatives are promoted under the guise of\u00a0fighting \u2018Western influence\u2019, with Russian laws on \u2018foreign agents\u2019 and\u00a0the prohibition of \u2018LGBT propaganda\u2019 being exported to\u00a0post-Soviet countries in\u00a0a\u00a0single package. The Russian authorities are accumulating symbolic capital by\u00a0positioning Russia as\u00a0the leading homophobic power in\u00a0the region (and possibly beyond), viewing this as\u00a0a\u00a0source of\u00a0strength in\u00a0its confrontation with the West and\u00a0in\u00a0garnering support from the countries of\u00a0the Global South.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Since the onset of\u00a0the full-scale invasion of\u00a0Ukraine, the situation of\u00a0the LGBTQ+ community in\u00a0post-Soviet countries has significantly deteriorated, according to a\u00a0review prepared by\u00a0the Anti-Discrimination Centre \u2018Memorial\u2019 (ADC)<\/a>. This primarily concerns countries that previously did not dare to\u00a0implement discriminatory initiatives at\u00a0the legislative level but have, in\u00a0recent years, adopted or\u00a0are discussing the adoption of\u00a0repressive homophobic laws (Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus). However, the situation has continued to\u00a0deteriorate in\u00a0countries where LGBTQ+ identities and\u00a0non-conventional sexuality have already been criminalised (In\u00a0Turkmenistan and\u00a0Uzbekistan, there are criminal laws that penalize consensual same-sex sexual relations, and\u00a0in\u00a0Tajikistan, there is\u00a0a\u00a0law against the spread of\u00a0HIV that law enforcement uses to\u00a0persecute the LGBTQ+ community). Human rights defenders have recorded an\u00a0increase in\u00a0criminal prosecutions and\u00a0a\u00a0tightening of\u00a0legislation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full review on the RE:RUSSIA<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RE:RUSSIA: Over the two years of\u00a0the war, the situation surrounding the issue of\u00a0the LGBTQ+ community in\u00a0the post-Soviet space has seriously deteriorated. This deterioration is\u00a0evident in\u00a0Central Asian countries where ‘non-traditional relationships’ were already criminalised or\u00a0semi-criminalised, as\u00a0well as\u00a0in\u00a0countries like Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and\u00a0Georgia,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[636],"tags":[213,352],"strategy_cases":[],"campaign":[],"archive":[],"filter-content":[],"regions":[],"class_list":["post-34407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-about-us","tag-discrimination-en","tag-lgbti-rights-en"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t