{"id":51187,"date":"2022-05-30T19:07:28","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T19:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?p=51187"},"modified":"2025-12-14T04:35:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T04:35:22","slug":"russia-suppresses-an-organization-defending-lgbtqia-rights-across-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/russia-suppresses-an-organization-defending-lgbtqia-rights-across-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia suppresses an organization defending LGBTQIA+ rights across Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On February 9, 2022, Russia\u2019s Justice Ministry filed a lawsuit to liquidate the Charitable Foundation Sphere (CF Sphere), an important organization that defends the rights of LGBTQI+ peoples in<\/strong> <\/strong>Russia<\/strong><\/a>. (Lockshina 2022) The Saint Petersburg Kuibishevsky court \u201csidelined the lawsuit and requested the Ministry of Justice clarify its claims.\u201d (Article19 2022) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although their initial attempt failed, on April 21, 2022, a Saint Petersburg district court ruled to shut down the foundation. In an op-ed published the same month, the human rights activist and head of the team of the CF Sphere Dilya Gafurova stated  that this is not the end: \u201cRussia\u2019s biggest LGBT+ group has been shut down. But we\u2019re going nowhere.\u201d (Gafurova 2022)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving LGBTQIA+ people in Russia without protection<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Russian Ministry of Justice claimed that the activities of CF Sphere \u201care aimed at supporting the LGBT movement in Russia \u201cwhich posed a problem because the organization threatened to \u201cchange the legislation and moral foundations in the Russian Federation.\u201d (Kelleher 2022) Specifically, the law threatens family values, public order, and the rule of law. Furthermore, the Press Service for St Petersburg Courts claimed that the existence of the organization endangered Russian values of citizenship<\/a>: \u201call the activities of Sphere run contrary to the state policy designed to preserve, expand and develop [the country\u2019s] human capital.\u201d (Lockshina 2022) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this sense, the ruling against CF Sphere stems from ideological and moral thought, rather than law. As the associate director of Human Rights Watch\u2019s Europe and Central Asia division Tanya Lokshina claims, the suit represents \u201ca purely ideological action and a blatant act of homophobic censorship disguised as a legal action.\u201d (Lokshina 2022) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The founder of CF Sphere, Igor Kochetkov, agrees that the lawsuit is more ideological than it is law-based. (Bellamy-Walker 2022) As such, the following regulation leaves the LGBTQIA+ community<\/a> vulnerable to further acts of repression because it sets a dangerous precedent. In other terms, the act of liquidating the organization legitimizes further homophobic acts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a consequence, the rights of LGBTQIA+ peoples<\/a> across Russia at this moment are especially vulnerable. As a Sphere spokesperson has claimed, \u201cWe cannot leave the community without protection and support at such a difficult time. Our team has always seen it as a duty to help the community and unite it based on the principles of human rights and humanitarianism.\u201d (Kelleher 2022) Because this is ideological, homophobic attitudes are more likely to stay which could have devastating impacts on LGBTQIA+ youth<\/a> in Russia during a time in which they are discovering their sexualities<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A history of homophobic policies of the Russian administration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, as Gafurova writes, we should not be surprised by the Russian government\u2019s stance, she saw this coming: \u201cWhen we at Sphere learned about the ruling to liquidate the organization, we were not especially surprised \u2013 we had been expecting such a decision for months.\u201d (Gafurova 2022) At the end of 2021, the International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Center were shut down for similar reasons. (Kelleher 2022) The current administration insists on ensuring that the media remains \u201cinherently Russian.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a belief that being LGBTQIA+ represents a foreign threat because it is associated with the Western world. In the past decade, the Russian government has attempted to suppress journalists and the media from discussing LGBTQIA+ rights, as well as wider human rights issues. Sphere\u2019s own projects, and those it was associated with, were called \u2018foreign agents.\u2019 (Russian LGBT Network n.d.) People who discussed their work with LGBTQIA+ organizations in public were also given the same title. The \u2018foreign agent\u2019 title \u201cbrings diminished credibility in the eyes of the general public.\u201d (Gafurova 2022) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It also opens up the possibility for activists to endure threats, provocations, and smear campaigns. In addition to these individual attacks, the Russian government has also put laws into place which discriminate against the rights of LGBTQIA+ people<\/a>. Namely, the infamous 2013 \u201cgay propaganda\u201d law which prohibited the spread of LGBTQIA+ media<\/a> online (it was further used to fine activists, block sources, and stop events including Pride). (Gafurova 2022) This law also influenced other post-Soviet countries to consider implementing bills against \u201chomosexual propaganda.\u201d (Kurtanidze 2022) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, MPs have been discussing the adoption of two bills that would further curb the rights of LGBTQIA+: a law banning \u201ctoxic content,\u201d and \u201cFundamentals of the State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values.\u201d (Gafurova 2022) This homophobic propaganda enables and upholds the power of the Russian governmental administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Charitable Foundation Sphere has achieved<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The following acts threaten the peaceful existence of a minority group in Russia. Since its inception in 2011, the organization CF Sphere has been providing \u201clegal and psychological assistance\u201d to LGBTQIA+ peoples whose lives were in danger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goals of the organization are the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n