Summary
Russian security forces raided three Moscow nightclubs, detaining 12 people on charges of “petty hooliganism” amid anti-LGBTQ enforcement.
The raids occurred a year after Russia’s Supreme Court labeled LGBTQ activism “extremist,” intensifying crackdowns on LGBTQ rights under Putin’s regime.
Videos showed clubgoers forced to the ground, with exits blocked and interrogations conducted. Sporadic raids on LGBTQ spaces have been reported since the 2022 ruling.
Russia’s LGBTQ restrictions, including its expanded “gay propaganda law,” have drawn criticism as part of a broader suppression of LGBTQ communities.
Gay clubs aren’t illegal in Russia, but under the propaganda laws, you may be committing a crime if you publicly appear to be having a good time whilst gay.
Wasn’t even public, most of those events were private, behind close doors, with entrance by invites only. That’s the biggest hipocrisy of propagandists and lawmakers, they kept saying “we dont care if you’re gay or lesbian as long as you dont flaunt it, we dont opress minorities, were just protecting the kids”, and then they break into closed clubs and apartments anyway, just to make a show out of it.