JAPANESE<\/a>\uff5c<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe latest annual survey of more than 6,000 people across Russia by the Coming Out and Sphere Foundation organisations showed that, in 2025, the situation for the community had neither improved nor significantly worsened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it showed a reinforcement of existing adaptive strategies among LGBTQ+ people, including selective approaches to coming out and avoidance of situations in which their gender identity or sexual orientation could be revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also an increase in some forms of abuse, particularly in online spaces, and threats of violence, extortion, denunciation, and pressure from close circles continued to contribute significantly to the everyday vulnerability of LGBTQ+ people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The groups say the findings reinforce the perception that LGBTQ+ people in Russia \u2013 where a series of repressive laws demonising and persecuting the community \u2013 are likely to face persistently high levels of vulnerability and threats to their safety, health, and quality of life for some time to come as they come under attack simply for being who they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur data shows that repression of LGBTQ+ people has moved from persecution for specific actions to persecution for their identity, for who a person is, not what they do. There are more and more legal cases against people who are living their lives, not doing anything against the government or trying to promote human rights,\u201d Denis Oleinik, Executive Director at Coming Out, told IPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we have seen in 2025 is a \u201cnormalisation\u201d or \u201croutinisation\u201d of catastrophe. LGBTQ+ people now just live with [the situation], with these things happening. It\u2019s as if this has become normal life. It\u2019s absolutely horrible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s LGBTQ+ community has faced increasing discrimination and marginalisation for more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While there has historically been a degree of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in Russian society, this has deepened significantly with the introduction of a series of laws and increasingly hostile government policies against the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2013, not long after Vladimir Putin had returned to power as president, a law was implemented banning \u201cthe propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations\u201d to anyone under the age of 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The start of what critics say has been a decade-long campaign by the Kremlin to marginalise and vilify the LGBTQ+ community in the country, the law was extended in 2022 to cover all public information or activities supporting LGBTQ+ rights or displaying non-heterosexual orientation, regardless of age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A ban on same-sex marriage was also written into the constitution, and in 2023, legislation was passed banning transgender people from officially or medically changing their gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same year also saw a ruling by the Supreme Court, which outlawed the non-existent \u2018international LGBT movement\u2019, declaring it \u2018extremist\u2019 \u2013 allowing people to be fined or prosecuted for anything that could be construed as promoting \u201cnon-traditional sexual relations\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, homophobic political discourse has become increasingly normalised, as the Kremlin has looked to promote \u2018traditional family values\u2019 in society and cast LGBTQ+ activism as a product of a degenerate West and a threat to Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has fuelled a growingly virulent and often violent rejection of LGBTQ+ people in large parts of society and has left many in the community fearing for their physical and mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grigory*, an LGBTQ+ student from a major city in Russia, said they were selective in revealing their sexuality and gender identity and that while they do not live in permanent fear of physical attacks, they have adjusted their behaviour to avoid certain locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSometimes in the evenings I avoid certain places because I could be considered stereotypically gay, perhaps because of my voice or the way I walk. I don\u2019t hide my sexuality in public, but I don\u2019t manifest it either,\u201d they said, adding that this was easier for them than for some other members of the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTransgender people suffer the worst problems. It must be very hard for someone to be transgender in Russia. They are so brave and strong. I\u2019m astonished they can keep going,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Coming Out and Sphere Foundation showed the situation for transgender people in the vast majority of indicators for quality of life, including specific measures of discrimination and well-being, was worse than for other members of the LGBTQ+ community. Notably, they were significantly more likely to face physical threats and experience actual physical violence, including sexual and domestic violence, more frequently than other LGBTQ+ people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of trans people right now live their whole lives at home without even going outside to the shops if they have access to courier services or some relatives or friends who can help them buy what they need. We\u2019re seeing this more and more,\u201d said Oleinik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grigory said they felt, along with many others in the community, if not fear of physical attacks, a specific sense of aggression towards them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel it indirectly. It comes through government narratives in the media and in the public sphere, or in something an acquaintance might say. Queerphobia in Russia is mainly government-induced. Of course it existed before all these awful laws, but it wasn\u2019t that strong. The laws have made it much worse,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LGBTQ+ rights campaigners say the patterns of behaviour among the community in Russia described in the report are unsurprising given the years of growing repression against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen marginalisation and criminalisation on any grounds are a long-term feature of daily life, people develop ways of managing their daily exposure to harm,\u201d Anastasia Smirnova, Deputy Director and Director of Programmes at rights group ILGA-Europe, told IPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added, though, that LGBTQ+ people in Russia were facing a very specific challenge, as the Russian state has, through increasingly harsh legislation and stigmatising rhetoric, systematically worked to isolate LGBTQ+ human rights defenders and then LGBTQ+ people from each other and from everyone around them as part of a broader dismantling of the conditions for free association and dissent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is what makes it different from social prejudice: it is not a reflection of society, it is a project of the state, and its target is civic life. For many people living through this, the daily acts of self-censorship described in the report are the lived reality of that project,\u201d Smirnova said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The potential harms of such actions on individuals and the wider community are severe, with impacts on both mental and physical health as individuals are left isolated and in some cases afraid to access healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe impact on children is particularly severe. State propaganda targeting schools, the absence of age-appropriate relationship and sex education, and the climate of fear surrounding LGBTI topics leave young people exposed to extreme harm and isolation, especially children who are themselves LGBTI or have LGBTI family members, but also any child who might be perceived as LGBTI,\u201d said Smirnova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the report did not show a significant deterioration in a number of indicators compared to previous years \u2013 in fact there was a slight improvement in some areas \u2013 its authors warn this could be misleading, highlighting that the report relied on the willingness of respondents to \u201cshare sensitive information in an increasingly oppressive environment\u201d and that real levels of discrimination and violence could be higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever the true levels of discrimination against the community are in Russia, many people are suffering gravely in the current environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grigory said they are currently in therapy, partly to help them deal with the challenges of being LGBTQ+ in Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They said that among the community, \u201cthoughts of killing oneself and suicide attempts are pretty common.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LGBTQ+ people and activists in touch or working directly with members of the community who spoke to IPS said substance abuse, or self-medication through unsupervised use of anti-depressants, was not uncommon either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trying to get help for such problems is difficult though amid mistrust of state health institutions because of widespread homo- and transphobia and concerns over staff potentially breaching patient confidentiality about sexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the pressure on LGBTQ+ people continues, many feel they have had no choice but to leave the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The annual report included responses from hundreds of people who had emigrated, both in 2025 and in the last few years before that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Severe anxiety and psychological discomfort were the most commonly cited reasons for emigration (66%), while other major reasons included intensified censorship (59%), personal safety risk (57%), and increased homophobia and transphobia in Russian society (57%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tellingly, the majority of participants who had emigrated (63%) did not consider returning to Russia an option \u2013 a rise of 8 percentage points on the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is perhaps unsurprising, given that many in the community see little or no prospect of the situation in Russia improving for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany things have changed in the last few years, not just in Russia but all around the world \u2013 the far right is winning everywhere, and LGBTQ rights are under attack all over the world. I\u2019m not expecting anything good to happen inside Russia in the next five to ten years,\u201d said Oleinik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But others say that despite, or perhaps because of, the report\u2019s findings, there is an even greater need now for LGBTQ+ people in Russia and groups both inside and outside the country to do whatever they can to resist the state\u2019s ongoing repression of the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is an important distinction to draw between acknowledging that a democratic reversal in Russia is not on the near horizon and concluding that nothing can or should be done in the meantime. The power of the Russian state, backed by resource wealth and a willingness to use every available instrument of repression, is real and cannot be minimised. And yet what we see from our position, working in support of human rights organisations, defenders, organisers, and activists, is not resignation, but realism paired with determination,\u201d said Smirnova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople are continuing to organise, even though the time horizons are long and murky and the measures of \u2018value\u2019 of the organising are different from what they might be somewhere else. But keeping the lights on for the possible forms of civic engagement, critical thought, and solidarity is a form of resistance that does have long-term value,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oleinik vowed his organisation would not be giving up on LGBTQ+ people in Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to continue our work, our support, because we know that LGBTQ+ people in Russia need us. Right now it might look like there is little hope of positive change, but that does not mean we should stop what we are doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*Name changed for security reasons<\/p>\n\n\n\n
INPS Japan\/ IPS UN Bureau Report<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Ed Holt BRATISLAVA (IPS)\u00a0– LGBTQ+ people in Russia are being forced to increasingly use self-censoring strategies in their daily lives as they struggle with systemic vulnerability, one of the largest surveys of the LGBTQ+ community in the country has shown.\uff5cJAPANESE\uff5c The latest annual survey of more than 6,000 people across Russia by the Coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,13,20,16,32,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-europe","8":"category-goal10","9":"category-human-right","10":"category-news","11":"category-regions","12":"category-sdgs-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10090"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10099,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10090\/revisions\/10099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}