Follow the Rainbow-Bricked Road: The Olympic Flame’s Journey through Russia’s Antigay Provinces
SEXUALITIES, 28 Oct 2013
Innokenty Grekov - Human Rights First
This page will be updated as the torch lighting events arrive in the cities below.
Homophobia is widespread in Russia, you all know that by now, and President Vladimir Putin’s government has proved itself willing to exploit it. The federal law banning “propaganda” of nontraditional sexual relations to minors seems like Russia’s top branding item in the world today, and while we have yet to see a prosecution under this ambiguous and discriminatory law, its regional precursors have been used by authorities to deny LGBT Russians the fundamental rights to assemble, associate, and speak. Unlike the federal law, the regional bans explicitly mention homosexuality.
As another well-known Russian brand—the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics—approaches, the Olympic Flame is on a journey through the country, from Moscow to Siberia to the Krasnodar region, where the Black Sea resort town will play host to the winter games starting on February 7. In this project, we’ll highlight when the Flame casts its glow on the10 regions that have adopted bans on homosexual “propaganda,” which we identify in Convenient Targets: The Anti-‘Propaganda’ Law and the Threat to LGBT Rights in Russia.
On this fantastic 40,000-mile, 123-day journey through 2,900 villages and cities situated on the longest route in Olympic history, there’ll be many tales to tell, and the official Torch Relay Diary is updated daily with information about local customs, celebrations, and torchbearers. But we also need to hear about the legal attacks on human rights and the courage of LGBT activists. We begin in Ryazan, where the anti-LGBT story began, and end with Krasnodar Krai, where Sochi is located.
October 15: Ryazan Oblast
No better place to start this “antigay” relay overview than Ryazan, where in 2006 Article 3.10 of the administrative offences code banned “Public actions aimed at ‘propaganda’ of homosexuality (sodomy and lesbianism) among minors.” The article’s primary purpose was to deny public events to gay rights and human rights activists, some of whom are now suing Russia in the European Court of Human Rights.
In March 2009, Irina Fedotova’s and Nikolai Bayev’s protest near a Ryazan school building was interrupted by police, and the activists were fined 1,500 rubles (less than 50 USD) by a local court for participating in a public action aimed at “propaganda” of homosexuality. Having exhausted possible domestic remedies, Irina Fedotova pleaded her case at the U.N. Human Rights Committee, which determined that Russia had violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, arguing that she “was giving expression to her sexual identity and seeking understanding for it.”
This international victory has, to the astonishment of international observers, translated into a domestic verdict upholding the United Nations’ ruling. In September, the Ryazan Regional Court overturned the administrative charges against Fedotova and Bayev, who demonstrated with signs saying that “Homosexuality is Normal” and “I am proud of my homosexuality.” The ruling is a major victory for gay rights, expanding the “wiggle room” for advancing human rights in Russia.
October 18: Kostroma Oblast
The state-owned RIA news agency’s coverage on the Olympic flame’s passage through Kostroma Oblast notes that “nontraditional modes of transportation” are used there, including an imperial carriage from Catherine the Great’s times, a good old Russian troika, and a galley. What a trip!
Not everything “nontraditional” is celebrated in Kostroma. In 2011, the region amended its administrative offences code with articles 20.1 & 20.2, banning “propaganda” of pedophilia and “propaganda” of homosexuality (sodomy and lesbianism), bisexuality, and transgenderism among minors. Kostroma’s regional law expanded the “ground-breaking” work by the legislators in Ryazan, adding bisexuality and transgenderism to the mix, but also equating pedophilia with homosexuality.
The regional law in Kostroma has been used to deny public events to LGBT activists. Yet, earlier this year a regional court in Kostroma declared illegal two bans on public demonstrations in March 2012. Both events were planned as protests against the regional ban on “propaganda” in Kostroma. The same regional court also upheld the banning of public events in front of a children’s library and a youth library, citing the non-admissibility of promoting homosexuality among minors. This ruling is currently being challenged in a higher court.
October 27: Saint Petersburg
October 29: Kaliningrad Oblast
November 1: Archangelsk Oblast
November 11: Magadan Oblast
December 6: Novosibirsk Oblast
December 16: Samara Oblast
December 22: Bashkortostan Republic
February 4, 2014: Krasnodar Krai
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