LGBT Rights in Russia

LGBT Rights In Russia

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) persons in Russia may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, though many advances have been made in the past two decades. As of 2008 (when Men who have sex with men were finally allowed to donate blood), Russia has no criminal law on federal level directed at LGBT people, but since male homosexual acts were decriminalized in 1993, there are no laws protecting against discrimination or harassment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. However, local legislature of Ryazan region legislatively prohibited "propaganda of homosexuality among minors" and established fines for that administrative offense. A similar law was passed in Arkhangelsk region in September 2011.

In November 2011 a similar law was also adopted at first reading by the legislature of Saint Petersburg (in case of Saint-Petersburg the adopted law imposed a ban on "propaganda" of homosexualism, bisexualism, transgenderism and pedophilia, while lacking the exact and unambiguous definition of what exactly should be considered "propaganda" and what, for example, an educational material and missing any explanation why pedophilia is virtually equalized with the first three non-criminal even according to Russian law types of sexuality). Russian media reported that further readings of this law in Saint-Petersburg were postponed to "clarify some definitions". Finally, the law was approved by the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, signed by city's governor and took effect on 30 March 2012. According to Russian media, a similar regional law is being drafted in Moscow city legislature and according to Federation Council of Russia speaker Valentina Matviyenko such ban on "propaganda of homosexualism" might also be adopted on federal level in order to "protect the children from destructive influence". In June 2012, Moscow courts enacted a hundred-year ban on gay pride parades.

A similar ban on "propaganda" of homosexualism, bisexualism, transgednerism and pedophilia was also approved in Kostroma Oblast, which took effect on 28 February 2012.

Current situation of LGBT rights in Russia:

• The age of consent currently stands at 16 since 2003, regardless of sexual orientation.
• Transsexual and transgender people can change their legal gender after corresponding medical procedures since 1997.
• Homosexuality was officially removed from the Russian list of mental illnesses in 1999 (after endorsing ICD-10).
• There is currently no legal recognition of same-sex couples in Russia, and same-sex marriages are not allowed. Public support for gay marriages is at 14% As of 2005.
• Single persons can adopt children, regardless of sexual orientation, but only married couples can adopt children together, as a couple.
• Gay people (at least officially) can serve in the military on a par with heterosexual people since 2003.

Public opinion about LGBT topics and people tends to be negative: according to 2005 poll, 43.5% of Russians support re-criminalization of homosexual acts between consensual adults; at the same time, 42.8% of Russians support a legal ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. There is a visible LGBT community network, mostly in major cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg, including nightclubs and political organizations.

Same-sex marriages are not allowed in Russia. At a press conference, head of the Moscow Registry Office Irina Muravyova declared: "Attempts by same-sex couples to marry both in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia are doomed to fail. We live in a civil society, we are guided by the federal law, by the Constitution that clearly says: marriage in Russia is between a man and a woman. Such a marriage cannot be contracted in Russia!"