#but people with means - especially people who did have businesses going - are evacuating en masse

[arcanistvysoren]

I'm still sort of on hiatus here, but yeah.... so this happened.

Things I can add from a personal experience:

the ruling only took 5 hours, which is considered incredibly quick;

the LGBT flag is now considered as offensive and as criminal as a exhibiting a swastika and you will be fined or worse for displaying it;

maintaining any kind of queer organization (club / event / pride / theme party) is punishable by roughly 12 years in prison;

they purposefully elected to outlaw this vague and ephemeral "international public movement" because there is no such thing as an organized public queer movement, which means legally no one can contest / dispute / etc. this ruling; or, at the very least, it would be very difficult; it is being ridiculed by some sources as absurd because it sounds like Russia is afraid of some conglomerate gay boogeyman, but the wording is actually purposefully nefarious;

none of it is surprising because this was the social understanding in this country for years, following years of other tightening of screws; i remember the propaganda ad from a few years back which was run in support of prohibiting gay couples from adopting; it was vile; it has been getting more and more homophobic and vile here with each passing day;

this line in the article is crucial: "The authorities portray LGBT activism as something inherently Western and hostile to Russia." -- russia is being deeply separated from the rest of the world by governmental propaganda, and anything Western has been considered for over a decade as malicious influence; this is directly tied to the war, too, because the public outcry and condemnation of the war by the West and the withdrawing of business and other punitive reactions are just being trotted out as more proof that the West is the immoral enemy and hostile to this nation.

so, today we, russian queers, may become "extremists" by decision of russian supreme court and thus our existence will be silenced and erased. any queer activism will be impossible for us. I don't know what to do anymore. I was heartbroken when they passed the laws about "gay propaganda" and transgender people, now I'm just numb. I don't want to escape. I just want to live safely in my own country.

please hear us.