Following a police raid on a nightclub in Tula in February, Russia penalised at least seven individuals for “looking too gay,” according to an independent Russian media outlet’s review of court documents.
Videos reveal that individuals wearing military-style uniforms and helmets carried out the operation, which resulted in the detention of at least eight persons.
The inmates were accused by the police of “trying to arouse interest in non-traditional sexual relations,” a felony that has been illegal.
In Russia for ten years, but it is often aimed at those who post pro-LGBT content rather than those who dress in “unmanly” ways.
It occurs as the Kremlin intensifies its efforts to uphold “traditional values,” which have included enforcing stricter anti-LGBT laws and outlawing “propaganda promoting a child-free lifestyle.”
According to reports, Russian authorities used the laws that criminalise “LGBT propaganda” to search a number of pubs and nightclubs in Moscow in November. “Non-traditional”
