MOSCOW: Russia’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that LGBT activists should be designated as extremists, in a move that representatives of gay and transgender people fear would lead to arrests and prosecutions.
The presiding judge announced that he had endorsed a request from the justice ministry to ban what it called “the international LGBT social movement”.
The move is part of a pattern of increasing restrictions in Russia on expressions of sexual orientation and gender identity, including laws outlawing the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relations and banning legal or medical changes of gender.
President Vladimir Putin has long sought to promote an image of Russia as a guardian of traditional moral values.