Homophobia in Russia Is Taking a Kafkaesque Turn
Jay Michaelson
LGBT organizations declared foreign agents in one fell swoop, gays being blacklisted by banks, employers, and landlordswelcome to the new reality of being LGBT under Putin.
We all know things are
bad for LGBT people in Russia, right?
In fact, we have no idea. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Tatiana Vinnichenko, director of the Russian LGBT organization Rakurs, revealed how much most of us in the West dont know about Russias anti-gay crackdown. And all of it is bad news.
First, official state prosecutions and persecution of LGBT organizations has morphed and intensified. Previously, LGBT organizations were pressured to register as
foreign agentsspies, basicallybut those registrations were subject to judicial review. The results were uneven: Some courts rubber-stamped the governments positions, but others found a lack of evidence and ruled for the LGBT organizations.
Earlier this year, says Vinnichenko, the law was quietly changed. Now the government has the power to declare an organization a foreign agent as an administrative matter. In other words, what was once a matter of law, however imperfect, is now a matter of bureaucracy. With one fell swoopand one that can come at any moment, without warninga gay community center, or film festival, or support group can be branded a spy.
The St. Petersburg-based LGBT organization Coming Out has been immersed in Russias Kafkaesque bureaucracy for months, having endured four hearings to ascertain whether it is a foreign agent. But it has endured, thanks to the rule of law. Without that protection, Coming Out would have no recourse. And once one is labeled a foreign agent, even routine administrative errors can result in criminal prosecution.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/09/homophobia-in-russia-is-taking-a-kafkaesque-turn.html