User:K!r!lleXXI/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. (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, authorities have done nothing to enact legislation to address 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 is scheduled to be considered in Arkhangelsk region in September of 2011. Public opinion about LGBT topics and people tends to be negative. There is a visible LGBT community network, mostly in major cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg, including nightclubs and political organizations.
 * 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%.
 * 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.

History
In the Xth century eastern Slavic tribes accepted Christianity, and Christian negative views of sexual activities became a reason for harsh penalties for same-sex acts determining negative attitudes of the general population toward same-sex relationships for centuries thereon after, however, they remained legal under law.

In 1706, a new Military Legal Code was issued which applied only to soldiers on active duty and proscribed burning at the stake for “sodomy between two men”; a 1716 revision of the Code proscribed corporal punishment, death penalty or hard labor for homosexual acts and rape.

In 1835, a new Legal Code was enacted containing Articles 995 and 996 prohibiting male anal intercourse and homosexual rape and seduction of male minors or mentally retarded men — punishable by deprivation of all rights and resettlement in Siberia for 4 to 5 years or hard labor for 10 to 20 years.

In 1922, a new Soviet Criminal Code was promulgated with no mention of sexual contacts between consenting adults, effectively legalizing all homosexual acts.

In 1933, Article 154a (later Article 121.1) was added to the Criminal Code of the USSR punishing male homosexual acts with up to 5 years in prison; same acts but aggravated — with up to 8 years in prison.

Decriminalization of male homosexuality (1993)
On 1991-12-26, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, but its legislation continued to apply in Russian Federation, so male homosexuality remained illegal.

On 1993-05-27, after some debates, homosexual acts between consenting males were once again legalized: Article 121.1 was removed from the Criminal Code of RSFSR, and no other limit on homosexual acts ever appeared in the new Criminal Code of Russia (enacted in 1996). The reform was largely the result of pressure from the Council of Europe. While President Boris Yeltsin signed the bill into law on 1993-04-29, neither he nor the parliament had any interest in LGBT rights legislation and none of the Russian political parties endorsed LGBT rights. There have been reports that by 1993-08-13, not all persons serving sentences under the old legislation have been released from jail, and there have been cases of homosexuals being re-sentenced and kept in jail, cases of imprisoned homosexuals who cannot be located and of missing files.

On 1999-07-04, the Russian Ministry of Health approved the new classification of mental and behavior disorders (based on Class V of ICD-10, which removed homosexuality in 1990), it no longer designated “homosexual orientation” as a mental disorder. Under the previous classification, which dated from 1982, homosexuality was classified as a personality disturbance.

LGBT opposition and oppression
In 2006, Grand Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin was quoted as saying about the first Moscow Gay Pride marchers: Under no circumstances should something like this be permitted. And if they come out into the streets anyway, they should only be beaten up. Any normal person would do that — Muslims and Orthodox Christians alike. Moscow Deputy Mayor Lyudmila Shevtsova made a comment: agitation, including gay festivals and a parade of sexual minorities, is in fact propaganda of immorality, which may be prohibited by law Similar comments were made by one of Russia's Chief Rabbis, Berl Lazar, who joined Tadzhuddin in condemning the march, saying that it "would be a blow for morality".

In late April and early May 2006, protesters blockaded some popular gay clubs in Moscow. After initial complaints that police had failed to intervene, later blockade attempts were met with arrests.

Legislative oppression on federal level
In 2002, Gennady Raikov, who led a conservative pro-government group in the Russian Duma, suggested outlawing homosexual acts. His colleague from a competing party offered to outlaw all lesbian relations. These proposals failed during the voting process, though they generated public support from many conservative religious leaders, medical doctors and those who blamed “women's birth strike” and sexual perversion for “the desecration of the national gene pool.”

On 2009-05-08, Russian Duma rejected a bill criminalizing gay propaganda in Russia (with only 90 votes if favor against 226 minimum required). This bill was initiated in 2007 by a Fair Russia party member and suggested depriving those who “openly demonstrated a homosexual way of life and a homosexual orientation” of the right to hold posts in educational establishments or in the army for a term from 2 to 5 years. According to Interfax, the parliamentarians decided that gay propaganda was not dangerous for society and thus could not be punished under the criminal code. Nikolai Alekseev, Chief organizer of the Slavic Pride, commented that with parliament rejecting this bill, it is likely that the Constitutional Court of Russia follows their request to cancel a similar law that is in force in the Ryazan Region.

Legislative oppression on regional level
Ryazan

Arkhangelsk

Gender identity/expression
The Federal Law “On Acts of Civil Status” (1997) provides for the possibility to rectify acts of civil status based on the document confirming sex transformation issued by a health institution (art.70). Also, transgender people can change their passport on the grounds of sex transformation. See the Administrative Legislation section of the Russian LGBT network 2009 Report.

In Tsarist Russia, young women would sometimes pose as men or act like tomboys. This was often tolerated among the educated middle classes, with the assumption that such behavior was asexual and would stop when the girl married. However, cross-dressing was widely seen as immoral behavior, punishable by the Church and later the government.

In Soviet Russia, sex change operations were first tried during the 1920s but became prohibited until the 1960s, when they were often done by Russian endocrinologist Aron Belkin, who was something of an advocate for transgender people until his death in 2003.

Recognition of same-sex relationships
Same-sex marriages are not allowed in Russia. "Attempts by same-sex couples to marry both in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia are doomed to fail, Irina Muravyova said, head of the Moscow Registry Office. 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 [same-sex] cannot be contracted in Russia!" Muravyova declared at a press conference.

Public support for gay marriages is at 14%.

Adoption and family planning
Adoption is being regulated by the Civil Procedure Code of Russia (Chapter 29); Family Code of Russia (Chapter 19);  Federal Law “On Acts of Civil Status” (Chapter V). None of these documents contain any direct restriction or ban for homosexual people to adopt, though unmarried couples are not allowed to adopt children (Article 127.2 of the Family Code of Russia), and since same-sex marriage is not officially recognized, gay couples cannot adopt children together; nevertheless, single individuals can adopt (see also the Parent Relations section of the Russian LGBT network 2009 Report). The Court makes the decision to allow or deny adoption considering many documents and testimonies, so it is unclear whether LGBT affiliation of the candidate adopter can be in fact an issue for a judge to make a negative decision.

Military service
Until decriminalization of male homosexuality in 1993, gays were obviously not allowed to serve in the army — instead they were prosecuted and incarcerated under the Article 121.1. After decriminalization, homosexuality remained a medical issue (sexual deviation), so, according to medical expertise statute, homosexual males were proclaimed mentally ill and could not serve in the military. Even after homosexuality was removed from the list of mental illnesses in 1999, military medical expertise statute continued to apply — there was no obvious reason to correct it, for young gay men mostly preferred to hide their homosexuality from enlisting officers.

On 2003-07-01, a new statute about military and medical expertise was adopted. It contained a clause of “deviations of gender identification and sexual preferences” among the reasons of disability for military service. This clause irritated the proponents of having equal rights for people of different sexual orientation, while another clause said that different sexual orientation should not be considered a deviation. This ambiguity called for clarification, so, finally, Valery Kulikov, the Major-General of the Medical Service, announced: The new statute about military and medical expertise from July 1, 2003 does not forbid people of non-standard sexual orientation from serving in the military <...> The issue of person’s homosexuality is not medical. There is no such diagnosis as homosexuality in medicine. There is no such illness in the classification of World Health Organization. The new statute about military and medical expertise follows international law practice. Therefore the reasons for evaluating the ability to serve for homosexuals are the same: physical and psychic health. This important clarification ??? People of non-standard sexual orientation can have problems when being in the Army, and therefore should not reveal there their sexual preferences, Valery Kulikov said. “Other soldiers are not going to like that, they can be beaten.”

Public opinions
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. Public support for gay marriages is at 14%.

LGBT organizations and their work
In 1996, a Russian LGBT human rights organization called "Triangle" was formed, with several new LGBT themed publications and local organizations arising in light of the fall of the Soviet Union. Yet as was the case with the groups that arose during 1989-1990, many of these organizations, including "Triangle", folded due to lack of funding as well as legal and social harassment.

In May 2006, a gay rights forum was held in Moscow. An accompanying march was banned by the mayor in a decision upheld by the courts. Some activists tried to march despite the ban and attempted to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This act and the presence of non-Russian activists aroused a nationalist reaction in addition to a religious condemnation of homosexuality, leading to the presence of both neo-Nazi groups and Orthodox protesters threatening the gay activists. Anti-march protesters beat the marchers, and about 50 marchers and 20 protesters were arrested when riot police moved in to break up the conflict.

Russian LGBT network was founded in May, 2006. , this is the first and only interregional LGBT organization in Russia.

In February 2009, at the final press conference in Moscow, the Russian LGBT network and the Moscow Helsinki Group published a paper titled “The situation for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people in Russian Federation.” This is the first complex study of the legal situation of LGBT people in the history of Russia. The 100-page paper contains the analysis of relevant Russian laws and also assembles and generalizes specific instances of infringement of rights and discrimination.

Moscow Gay Pride Parades and other events
In the midst of a row over the decision by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov to ban a gay rights parade in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked for his opinion on homosexuality at a press conference on 2007-02-01. Putin said: With regards to what the heads of regions say, I normally try not to comment. I don’t think it is my business. My relation to gay parades and sexual minorities in general is simple — it is connected with my official duties and the fact that one of the country’s main problems is demographic. (Applause.) But I respect and will continue to respect personal freedom in all its forms, in all its manifestations.

On 2007-05-27, a gay rights demonstration banned by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who had earlier branded it as "satanic", was held in Moscow again and for the second year running degenerated into violent clashes with anti-gay protestors. For the second time police failed to protect gay rights activists. Italian MP Marco Cappato was kicked by an anti-gay activist and then detained when he demanded police protection. British gay rights veteran Peter Tatchell and Russian gay leader Nikolay Alexeyev were detained as well. The march is documented in the 2008 film East/West - Sex & Politics.

On 2008-06-01, gay demonstrators in Moscow again attempted to hold a gay parade. Some 13 Orthodox opposers were held by police for violent actions against protesters.

On 2009-05-16, a gay rights demonstration timed to coincide with Moscow's hosting of the 2009 Eurovision song contest finals was broken up by police, with all 30 participants — including British human rights activist Peter Tatchell — arrested.

On 2009-05-17, for the International Day Against Homophobia Russian LGBT network organized the “Rainbow flash mob” in Saint Petersburg; this event brought together from 100 to 250 people by various estimations, and the organizers consider it to be the most large-scale action in the whole history of Russia dedicated to the problem of LGBT rights. Also the action in smaller scales has passed in more than 30 cities of Russia.