DISINFO: There is no persecution of gay people in Russia
SUMMARY
Gays in Russia face no persecution. They live openly, they do their comings-out, they declare their homosexuality, and nothing happens to them. No one fires them from their jobs, no one beats them up, nothing.
RESPONSE
The persecution of sexual minorities in Russia is a critical, ongoing issue which includes violence, employment discrimination and social stigma. According to the NGO ILGA-Europe, Russia is the fourth-worst European country for LGBT persons to live in. The true extent of anti-LGBT discrimination in Russia is difficult to assess, given that the state does not compile statistics on violence against sexual minorities. Nor does the legal system confer any specific protections on LGBT persons; Article 63 of the Criminal Code counts "political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred" among factors aggravating punishment for violent offences, but this provision does not extend to sexual and gender minorities. Independent studies show that LGBT hate crimes doubled between 2013 and 2017, with researchers attributing the increase to the 2013 federal law banning "gay propaganda." The most recent report by Russia's SOVA Center, a non-governmental hate crime watchdog, noted another spike in anti-LGBT violence in 2018-19. The situation is especially dire in Chechnya, where homophobic violence is not only tacitly permitted, but routinely perpetrated by regional law enforcement.