Last updated on February 6th, 2024 at 05:50 am
This week, Russian courts issued the first convictions tied to the country’s designation of the “international LGBT social movement” as extremist last year. A Volgograd court found a man guilty of “displaying the symbols of an extremist organization” when he posted a photo of an LGBT flag online. Identified only as Artyom P., he admitted guilt, attributing his action to “stupidity.” He was fined 1,000 roubles (£8.69).
Meanwhile, in Nizhny Novgorod, a woman received a five-day administrative detention sentence for wearing earrings depicting a rainbow on a frog-shaped design. She was summoned to the police station after a man filmed her in a café and demanded she remove the earrings; the footage was subsequently posted online.
Next week, a Saratov-based photographer faces trial for posting rainbow flag images on Instagram. Russian law currently forbids the display of symbols from organizations it deems extremist, encompassing Meta’s social network. Following the Russian Supreme Court’s November ban on the LGBT movement, the country continues to restrict expressions of gender identity and sexual orientation. Since July 2021, it has prohibited legal or medical gender changes for transgender individuals. A law barring the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relations has been enforced for over a decade.