Russia’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that LGBTQ activists should be designated as extremists, in a move that representatives of gay and transgender people fear will lead to arrests and prosecutions.
A Reuters reporter in court heard it announce that it had approved a request from the justice ministry to recognize what it called “the international LGBT social movement” as extremist and to ban its activities.
The move is part of a pattern of increasing restrictions in Russia on expressions of sexual orientation and gender identity, including laws outlawing the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relations and banning legal or medical changes of gender.
President Vladimir Putin, expected shortly to announce that he will seek a new six-year term in March, has long sought to promote an image of Russia as a guardian of traditional moral values in contrast with a decadent West.
In a speech last year, he said the West was welcome to adopt “rather strange, in my view, new-fangled trends like dozens of genders, and gay parades” but had no right to impose them on other countries.
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