A brief history of the Russian LGBT struggle
With the Olympics coming to a close on
February 23, much international attention
has been placed on Russia for its current
laws and social stigmas that deny basic
human rights to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender people.
Protests have sprung up worldwide and some athletes such as Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff have begun their own forms of dissent by denouncing the laws and coming out publicly in solidarity with those that are a part of the struggle.
Russia has been making slow but progressive changes over the last few decades. Same-sex sexual activity has been decriminalized since 1993 and transgender people have been able to change their legal gender since 1997. Age of consent was applied to same-sex relations in 2003 and homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness in 1999. However, there are currently no laws that prohibit discrimination against LGBT people, and same-sex marriages are ineligible for legal protections that opposite-sex couples are granted.
According to the “Cross-national Differences in Attitudes towards Homosexuality” report out of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, Russia has notably been a country that is largely conservative when it comes LGBT-related issues, though notable communities in Moscow and Saint Petersburg still thrive amidst the current political atmosphere.
Historically, LGBT movements have had brief peaks of activity since the days of the Russian Empire. The first official law that prohibited same-sex activities was enacted by Tsar Peter the Great, who placed a ban on male homosexuality in the armed forces around 1716. This stayed consistent up to the end of Tsarist rule when the new Soviet leadership initially abolished these old Tsarist laws and adopted a more liberal policy. Under Lenin, these policies included legalized homosexuality, abortion, and nofault divorce, but soon began to reintroduce the same repression by the 1930s. Propaganda during the Stalin era was amped up to portray homosexuality as a right-wing conspiracy linked to tsarist aristocracy and German fascism thus implementing a justification for terminating these legal protections in Russian political thought. This remained a constant facet of Soviet governments and a poll in 1989 that was reported by Reuters some years later showed a disturbing 30 per cent of respondents believed that homosexuals should be “liquidated.” A similar poll in '91 brought this number down to five per cent and ultimately led to homosexuality being legalized once again in 1993.
Fast forwarding to our current year: Russian LGBT groups have struggled to gain acceptance in the political realm but were largely ignored until the work of human rights activists brought international condemnation to the most recent laws that seek to limit “gay propaganda.” Their work revealed an increase of hate crimes that are linked to a growing neo-fascist movement with a strong grasp on disenfranchised Russian youth.
As it is, the Winter Games of 2014 have opened up a window that reveals a dark trend in LGBT-related hate crimes and many athletes defying both the Russian laws as well as the International Olympic Committee's enforcement of Rule 50 that forbids political protest are receiving mixed reactions from the world. Many in the IOC have always sought to keep the Games apolitical this way, though history has shown us that the Olympics can be anything but. From the 1968 Black Power Salute that stood against very similar discriminatory laws and social practices to the infamous horror that was the 1972 Munich Massacre, the Olympics remain a worldwide spectacle that will continue to capture the attention of every citizen of every demographic across the globe.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Protests have sprung up worldwide and some athletes such as Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff have begun their own forms of dissent by denouncing the laws and coming out publicly in solidarity with those that are a part of the struggle.
Russia has been making slow but progressive changes over the last few decades. Same-sex sexual activity has been decriminalized since 1993 and transgender people have been able to change their legal gender since 1997. Age of consent was applied to same-sex relations in 2003 and homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness in 1999. However, there are currently no laws that prohibit discrimination against LGBT people, and same-sex marriages are ineligible for legal protections that opposite-sex couples are granted.
According to the “Cross-national Differences in Attitudes towards Homosexuality” report out of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, Russia has notably been a country that is largely conservative when it comes LGBT-related issues, though notable communities in Moscow and Saint Petersburg still thrive amidst the current political atmosphere.
Historically, LGBT movements have had brief peaks of activity since the days of the Russian Empire. The first official law that prohibited same-sex activities was enacted by Tsar Peter the Great, who placed a ban on male homosexuality in the armed forces around 1716. This stayed consistent up to the end of Tsarist rule when the new Soviet leadership initially abolished these old Tsarist laws and adopted a more liberal policy. Under Lenin, these policies included legalized homosexuality, abortion, and nofault divorce, but soon began to reintroduce the same repression by the 1930s. Propaganda during the Stalin era was amped up to portray homosexuality as a right-wing conspiracy linked to tsarist aristocracy and German fascism thus implementing a justification for terminating these legal protections in Russian political thought. This remained a constant facet of Soviet governments and a poll in 1989 that was reported by Reuters some years later showed a disturbing 30 per cent of respondents believed that homosexuals should be “liquidated.” A similar poll in '91 brought this number down to five per cent and ultimately led to homosexuality being legalized once again in 1993.
Fast forwarding to our current year: Russian LGBT groups have struggled to gain acceptance in the political realm but were largely ignored until the work of human rights activists brought international condemnation to the most recent laws that seek to limit “gay propaganda.” Their work revealed an increase of hate crimes that are linked to a growing neo-fascist movement with a strong grasp on disenfranchised Russian youth.
As it is, the Winter Games of 2014 have opened up a window that reveals a dark trend in LGBT-related hate crimes and many athletes defying both the Russian laws as well as the International Olympic Committee's enforcement of Rule 50 that forbids political protest are receiving mixed reactions from the world. Many in the IOC have always sought to keep the Games apolitical this way, though history has shown us that the Olympics can be anything but. From the 1968 Black Power Salute that stood against very similar discriminatory laws and social practices to the infamous horror that was the 1972 Munich Massacre, the Olympics remain a worldwide spectacle that will continue to capture the attention of every citizen of every demographic across the globe.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
