Culture

Russia LGBT: Queer Russians Are Being Brutally “Hunted” and Murdered, and the U.S. Has Done Nothing


Zhenya Svetski fears he could be next. On Wednesday, the Russian LGBTQ+ activist took to Instagram, asking the international queer community to push for an investigation into the fatal stabbing of fellow activist Yelena Grigoryeva last Sunday outside her St. Petersburg apartment.

International advocates have decried the violence as a byproduct of state-sponsored Russian homophobia. They also say that the U.S. government has failed queer Russians by ignoring the country’s hostility toward them and turning their back on refugees.

Grigoryeva, who was active with the Moscow-based Alliance of Heterosexuals and LGBT for Equality, is latest queer Russian to meet a violent end after her name appeared on a since-deleted website, inspired by the American horror movie Saw, that encouraged people to “hunt” queer activists and citizens. Police have arrested a suspect they say was acquainted with Grigoryeva, calling the murder a domestic incident, local media reported.

Police officers detain Yelena Grigoryeva at a rally in Saint Petersburg in October.OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images

Svetski, whose name also appeared on the site, says he faces the same threats.

“Now everything is much more serious, they ruthlessly KILL us and frighten us !!! [sic.]” Svetski wrote. He says he and ten others are being targeted.

Voices4, a New York-based queer advocacy organization, condemned what they characterized as law enforcement inaction and a misleading police narrative surrounding the murder.

“The police, to whom Svetski has reported the incident, are yet to take things seriously,” the group wrote in Instagram post Friday. As a result, Svetski and his fellow LGBTQ+ Russians are forced to advocate for themselves.

In Russia, activists increase their exposure to violence the more they organize against homophobia, says Daniel Balson, an advocacy director at Amnesty International.

“The situation for LGBTI individuals and especially activists ranges from bad to worse, politically speaking,” says Balson. “Activists face not only widespread discrimination from society at large but often misunderstanding, outright prejudice, or rejection from their families. They have to contend with violence sponsored and initiated by both by far-right extremist groups and state security services.”

In 2013, Russia famously criminized “gay propoganda.” Hate crimes in the country subsequently doubled, with murders making up 200 of the 250 crimes tracked during the first five years of the law’s passage. Last November, an LGBTQ+ conference in Moscow had to be canceled following homophobic threats.

Last month, the country was slapped with a 42,500 euro fine by the European Court of Human Rights for refusing to allow LGBTQ+ organizations Rainbow House, the Movement for Marriage Equality, and the Sochi Pride House the right to register as official associations. The Russian government cited its propaganda law as reason for the refusal.

But queer Russians face threats from outside the country as well. The Human Rights Campaign, which tracks anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups abroad, reports that eight American extremist activists have been active in Russia in recent years: Scott Lively, Benjamin Bull, Jordan Sekulow, Peter LaBarbera, Paul Cameron, Brian Brown, Larry Jacobs and Janice Shaw Crouse, all infamous for their anti-LGBTQ activism, have poured money and time into the country.





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