Russia and LGBT etc.

Subject: culture   people  

Russia doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to LGBT rights and acceptance. However, it’s not impossible or illegal to live your life with any orientation there. What is banned (since 2013) is propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships (Wikipedia).

 

Russia’s Legislation on LGBT rights

Reactions from that time to the law in Russia’s anti-gay law (The Economist, 2013, 8 mins) and Putin signs law banning homosexual ‘propaganda’ (Euronews, 2013, 1 min). See also Russia: ‘Gay propaganda’ law remains in place, but complaints against it continue (CRIN).

More recent developments in LGBT Couples in Russia Face Greater Legislative Prejudice After Constitution Change (Bloomberg QuickTake, 2020, 2 mins) and Russia’s Anti-Gay Law-Reax in Russia (CNN, 2016, 1.5 min).

 

Vice Report

Legislation and/or the LGBT climate as a reason to leave (or escape) Russia in Russia’s First Gay Married Couple Had To Run For Their Lives (Vice News, 2018, 5 m), with the Netherlands playing the role of savior. See also A Gay Russian Asylum-Seeker’s Struggle in America (Them, 2017, 12 mins).

 

Putin and LGBT etc.

The president of Russia makes no secret of his stance on LGBT issues. Further explanation through the sources below, with more recent ones further down.

 

Putin and Elton John

This news came out: Vladimir Putin, Elton John Allegedly Discuss Gay Rights (ABC News, 2015, 2 mins). And Elton John ‘to meet President Putin’ to discuss LGBT rights (BBC News, 2015, 1 min).

Fake news. A prank. Putin would never call Elton John. Everyone knows that, except the extremely honored Elton John. The entire conversation is in Prank: ‘Putin’ called Elton John (Vovan222prank, 2015, 11 mins), with the news being recalled in Elton John & ‘Vladimir Putin’ Prank Call (ABC News, 2015, 1 min).

It’s debatable whether a meeting would have made a difference, and if so, for whom.

 

Russia and transgender people

The “T” in LGBT seems to be a bridge too far for Russia. See Russia has a new draft law with major consequences for transgender people (Meduza, 2020) and A New Russian Law Could Ban Trans People From Officially Changing Their Gender (The Moscow Times, 2020).

Reports (from 2015) that transgender people would be banned from driving are false, but are still widely circulated with few corrections. See, for example, Russia Bans Transgender People From Driving (Wall Street Journal, 2015, 2 m) and Russian Transgenders Will No Longer Qualify for Driver’s Licenses (David Pakman Show, 2015, 2 m). Read Russia Won’t Let Transgender People Drive (Time, 2015) and Russia Disqualifies Transgender People From Driving (Refrl, 2015).

The only debunking found was in Russia gives green light for transgender drivers to stay on the road (Reuters, 2015).

 

Outlaw (Movie 2019)

Transgender people in Russia do exist, and some are visible and open. See, for example, My Trans Life in Russia (Eva Borisova, 2019, 3 mins), LGBT in Russia: Coming out as a transgender woman (PinkNews, 2018, 2 mins) and Doc: Big Open Closet / Trans in Russia (My Genderation, 2018, 16 m). RT had a 2015 series TransReality, with episode 1 available on YouTube (RT Documentary, 2015, 25 mins).

 

More recent (2019) and causing some controversy is the film Outlaw (Аутло). Directed by Ksenia Ratushnaya, more on IMDb.

 

Russian Street Interviews and ‘Hate Speech’

Ordinary Russians also have their say, in their own way. The Big Red Button of the interviewer pushes for a bit of controversy – but that’s allowed, because diversity.

 

What Russians think about LGBT?
(1420, 2019, 8 mins)

The curly-haired young man who set his sights on a pair of sneakers was re-interviewed a year later to see if he had changed his mind. Curly Guy didn’t budge, as seen in The Curly Guy: 1 Year Apart. Diversity in practice: ‘This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s policy on hate speech’.

 

Russia and the Rainbow Flag

From the same channel and deemed acceptable is Russians react to LGBT flag on US embassy (2020, 4 mins). See also Putin: Rainbow flag at US Embassy in Moscow ‘revealed something about the people that work there’ (The Hill, 2020) and Putin Mocks U.S. Embassy for Flying Rainbow Flag (US News, 2020).

Also, St. Petersburg school involves law enforcement over raising of LGBTQ pride flag and Pussy Riot activists arrested in Moscow for hanging rainbow flags on government buildings to mark Putin’s birthday (Meduza, 2020).

The rainbow itself, without a flag, has since become a sensitive issue. See Russian ice cream in ‘gay propaganda’ row (BBC, 2020) and Putin ally claims ice cream is ‘secret LGBT propaganda’ (The Times, 2020).

 

More Russia and LGBT etc.

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And for related vocabulary: Сексуальная ориентация / русский язык (русский с носителем, 2020, 11 mins).

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Last updated March 31, 2026

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