Russia’s Supreme Court has ruled “the international LGBT social movement” as an extremist organization and banned it from the country.
The court announced it had approved a request from the justice ministry to recognize the international LGBT social movement” as extremist and to ban its activities, Reuters reported.
Many liberals blasted the Russian high court’s ruling.
“Absurd, extrajudicial, illegal,” exclaimed Russian LGBT journalist and activist Renat Davletgildeev.
“I can’t fit it into my mind.”
One LGBT group described the court’s decision as a “parody,” calling it an “attempt by the state to humiliate LGBTQ+ people and recognize them as second-class citizens.”
Other critics slammed the ruling from what seemed like an apparent confusion about what LGBT activities or pronouncements could lead to criminal charges.
Washington Post writers Robyn Dixon and Natalia Abbakumova wrote an “activist style” report on the ruling.
The article was laced with words such as “preposterous,” “repressive,” “global homophobia,” “intolerant countries,” and “regressive agenda.”
They were also quick to point out that “the alleged [international LGBT] movement has no organizational structure, leadership, membership, website, or address.”
Last year, Russian lawmakers unanimously approved a bill to ban all forms of LGBTQ “propaganda,” according to a final reading Thursday.
The approval comes amid President Vladimir Putin’s move to transform Russia into the antithesis of destructive Western liberal values.
The bill broadened Russia’s already existing laws banning so-called “gay propaganda” for minors and effectively banned any public mention of gay relationships.
But Rights activists argue the new legislation ramps up the crackdown on LGBTQ relationships.
The law will affect all forms of media, including books, social media posts, and even drag shows.
In the same month, Russia banned transgender sex change surgeries and gender changes on identity cards in a national effort to promote ‘traditional values’ across Russian society.
The legislation is set for a second reading of three this week after gaining initial approval in the lower house of parliament in June 2022.
The only surgical operations permitted will be to treat intersex “congenital physiological anomalies” among children with the approval from special medical commissions or public health care institutions.
“We are preserving Russia for posterity, with its cultural and family values, traditional foundations, and putting up a barrier to the penetration of Western anti-family ideology,” announced deputy chairman of the lower house, Pyotr Tolstoy said, following the approval of the first reading.
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