Russian LGBT network
Encyclopedia
Russian LGBT network — Russian
interregional non-governmental organization
working for the protection of rights and social adaptation
of sexual
and gender
minorities (LGBT
).
The movement was founded in May, 2006. On October 19, 2008, the organization was reformed as the Interregional non-governmental organization "Russian LGBT network", with Igor Petrov being elected as its chairperson.
Russian LGBT Network is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association
(ILGA).
based on sexual orientation
and gender identity
, for conveying the idea of tolerance
to Russian society, and also for support of the active participation of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders in public life.
The movement’s governing body is the Conference which is called together at least once a year. Between the Conferences the permanent managing collegiate authority is the Council of the Movement headed by the Chairperson. The Council and the Chairperson are elected by the Conference.
The Russian LGBT network structure includes 13 regional branches and 10 regional LGBT organisations.
Two offices in Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk were disbanded at the beginning of 2010.
and LGBT rights organization
s.
Russian LGBT Network together with other human rights
organizations like Memorial
, seeks recognition of homosexuals who suffered criminal persecution in USSR as victims of political repressions; as a part of this work, the year 2009 as the year of the 75th anniversary of criminal persecution for homosexuality was declared Memorial Year for Gay and Lesbian Victims of Political Repressions.
From March 23 to March 29, 2009 the third information and educational event "The week against Homophobia" took place in Russia
under the patronage of the LGBT Network of Russia; during this event round tables, film showings, street actions and performances took place in Arkhangelsk
, Kemerovo
, Tomsk
, Omsk
, Krasnoyarsk
, Naberezhnye Chelny
, Novosibirsk
, Petrozavodsk
, Tyumen
, Rostov-na-Donu, Chelyabinsk
and Saint Petersburg
.
On 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
.
On May 17, 2009, 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
.
On July 15, 2009, the representatives of Russian LGBT Network met the Human rights commissioner of Russian Federation Vladimir Lukin
, and presented him the above-named report. V.P.Lukin said that LGBT have the same rights, as the other people do: “If certain people’s rights are violated because of the sexual orientation of those people, we are ready to protect them”
According to the Igor Petrov’s assessment, it was the first official meeting of the representative of the state with LGBT-activists in Russian history.
In August 2009, the brochure about gay and lesbian family rights was published in Russia. In the brochure, the problems of the legal relations regulation of the same-sex families in the contemporary Russian reality are considered.
On August 11, 2009, Russian LGBT Network sent a written request to the Prosecutor General of Russia
, asking him to open a criminal case against prefect of SAO Moscow Oleg Mitvol
. Igor Petrov blamed him for fomentation of hatred of LGBT.
On August 24, 2009, Russian LGBT Network filed a complaint to the Prosecutor General of Russia
about Sergey Ponomarev, the deputy of the main editor of the “Komsomolskaya Pravda
” newspaper. Sergey Ponomarev was in charge for making public statements, which fomented the hatred and humiliated people because of their sexual orientation.
On the January 11, the public prosecutor's office gave a warning to the newspaper, saying: “The examination established that Ponomarev’s statements expressed the negative attitude towards the people with homosexual sexual orientation. For the above-stated reason, the interdistrict prosecutor's office issues a warning to the ZAO “Komsomolskaya Pravda Publishing House”, that breach of the law in the mass-media are intolerable”.
On September 17 – September 27, 2009, the International Festival of Queer Culture was held in Saint Petersburg. For ten days, the cultural workers discussed the problems of tolerance to homosexuals and “different” people. Among the participants of the festival were the groups “Kolibri
”, “Iva Nova”, “Betty
”, “S’nega” (Aleksey Raakhov’s project), the poets Dita Karelina, Liya Kirgetova, Elena Novozhilova, the singers Olga Krauze, Tatiana Puchko and others. The photo exhibitions, the theater performances, the concerts of rock music and guitar poetry, poetry readings, art workshops, film representations, drag-king shows, seminars and discussions took place at the festival.
On October 30 2009, Human Rights Committee
of UN on the 97th session presented a report about the situation with human rights in Russia, based on the report of Russian LGBT Network. The accent was made on violation of LGBT rights.
On December 24, 2009, Russian LGBT Network published press release, greeting the Patriarch Kirill’s declaration about the inadmissibility of the sexual orientation discrimination.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
interregional non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
working for the protection of rights and social adaptation
LGBT social movements
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...
of sexual
Sexual minority
A sexual minority is a group whose sexual identity, orientation or practices differ from the majority of the surrounding society. The term was coined most likely in the late 1960s under the influence of Lars Ullerstam's ground breaking book "The Erotic Minorities: A Swedish View" which came...
and gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
minorities (LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
).
The movement was founded in May, 2006. On October 19, 2008, the organization was reformed as the Interregional non-governmental organization "Russian LGBT network", with Igor Petrov being elected as its chairperson.
Russian LGBT Network is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association
International Lesbian and Gay Association
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association is an international organization bringing together more than 750 LGBTI groups from around the world. It continues to be active in campaigning for LGBT rights on the international human rights and civil rights scene and...
(ILGA).
Goals of the movement
The movement was created to unite public support for stopping all the forms of discriminationDiscrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
based on sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
and gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
, for conveying the idea of tolerance
Toleration
Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
to Russian society, and also for support of the active participation of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders in public life.
Structure of the organization
The Russian LGBT network structure includes 13 regional branches and 10 regional LGBT organisations.
Branches
- Saint-Petersburg
- Petrozavodsk
- Pskov
- Arkhangelsk
- Volgograd
- Kazan
- Naberezhnye Chelny
- Perm
- Samara
- Tyumen
- Omsk
- Tomsk
- Kemerovo
- Novosibirsk
Two offices in Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk were disbanded at the beginning of 2010.
Collective members
The following Collective members constitute the Russian LGBT Network:- "LGBT organization Exit"(St. Petersburg)
- "LesbiPARTYya" (St. Petersburg)
- "Serving Nuntiare et Recreare (LGBT Christians)" (St. Petersburg)
- "Perspective" (Arkhangelsk)
- "Ural-positive" (Ekaterinburg)
- "Anti-Dogma. Info "(Chelyabinsk)
- "League" (Volgograd)
- "Human Rights Center of Krasnoyarsk (Krasnoyarsk)
- "The walls need to talk" ("SDG") (Krasnoyarsk)
- "Circle-Karelia (Petrozavodsk)
- "Rainbow House"(Tyumen)
The movement’s activities
Russian LGBT Network gives organizational and guidance support to psychologists, lawyers and other professionals working with the LGBT community, and also to action groups and to local human rightsHuman rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and LGBT rights organization
LGBT rights organization
LGBT rights organizations are civil rights, health, and community organizations created and existing to further the civil and human rights and health of sexual minorities and to improve the gay community....
s.
Russian LGBT Network together with other human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organizations like Memorial
Memorial (society)
Memorial is an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording and publicising the Soviet Union's totalitarian past, but also monitors human rights in post-Soviet states....
, seeks recognition of homosexuals who suffered criminal persecution in USSR as victims of political repressions; as a part of this work, the year 2009 as the year of the 75th anniversary of criminal persecution for homosexuality was declared Memorial Year for Gay and Lesbian Victims of Political Repressions.
From March 23 to March 29, 2009 the third information and educational event "The week against Homophobia" took place in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
under the patronage of the LGBT Network of Russia; during this event round tables, film showings, street actions and performances took place in Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
, Kemerovo
Kemerovo
Kemerovo is an industrial city in Russia, situated on the Tom River, east-northeast of Novosibirsk. It is the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, located in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk Basin...
, Tomsk
Tomsk
Tomsk is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Tom River. One of the oldest towns in Siberia, Tomsk celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2004...
, Omsk
Omsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
, Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk is a city and the administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. It is the third largest city in Siberia, with the population of 973,891. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and one of Russia's largest producers of...
, Naberezhnye Chelny
Naberezhnye Chelny
Naberezhnye Chelny is the second largest city in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia.A major industrial center, Naberezhnye Chelny stands on the Kama River some 225 km east of Kazan near Nizhnekamsk Reservoir. It serves as the administrative center of Tukayevsky District, although it is not...
, Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
, Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. It stretches along the western shore of the Lake Onega for some . The city is served by Petrozavodsk Airport. Municipally, it is incorporated as Petrozavodsky Urban Okrug . Population:...
, Tyumen
Tyumen
Tyumen is the largest city and the administrative center of Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located on the Tura River east of Moscow. Population: Tyumen is the oldest Russian settlement in Siberia. Founded in 16th century to support Russia's eastward expansion, the city has remained one of the most...
, Rostov-na-Donu, Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk is a city and the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located in the northwestern side of the oblast, south of Yekaterinburg, just to the east of the Ural Mountains, on the Miass River. Population: -History:...
and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
.
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
the Russian LGBT Network and the Moscow Helsinki Group
Moscow Helsinki Group
The Moscow Helsinki Group is an influential human rights monitoring non-governmental organization, originally established in what was then the Soviet Union; it still operates in Russia....
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
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
.
On May 17, 2009, for the International Day Against Homophobia
International Day Against Homophobia
The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia is celebrated every May 17.It is coordinated by the Paris based "IDAHO Committee" founded and presided by French academics, Louis-Georges Tin...
Russian LGBT network organized the "Rainbow flash mob" in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
; 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
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
dedicated to the problem of LGBT rights. Also the action in smaller scales has passed in more than 30 cities of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
On July 15, 2009, the representatives of Russian LGBT Network met the Human rights commissioner of Russian Federation Vladimir Lukin
Vladimir Lukin
Vladimir Petrovich Lukin is Russian liberal political activist currently serving as the Human Rights Commissioner of Russia...
, and presented him the above-named report. V.P.Lukin said that LGBT have the same rights, as the other people do: “If certain people’s rights are violated because of the sexual orientation of those people, we are ready to protect them”
According to the Igor Petrov’s assessment, it was the first official meeting of the representative of the state with LGBT-activists in Russian history.
In August 2009, the brochure about gay and lesbian family rights was published in Russia. In the brochure, the problems of the legal relations regulation of the same-sex families in the contemporary Russian reality are considered.
On August 11, 2009, Russian LGBT Network sent a written request to the Prosecutor General of Russia
Prosecutor General of Russia
The Prosecutor General of Russia heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russian Federation ....
, asking him to open a criminal case against prefect of SAO Moscow Oleg Mitvol
Oleg Mitvol
Oleg Lvovich Mitvol is a Russian environmentalist, businessman and government official, well-known for his activity in the chair of environmental protection department.-Business career:...
. Igor Petrov blamed him for fomentation of hatred of LGBT.
On August 24, 2009, Russian LGBT Network filed a complaint to the Prosecutor General of Russia
Prosecutor General of Russia
The Prosecutor General of Russia heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russian Federation ....
about Sergey Ponomarev, the deputy of the main editor of the “Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, founded on March 13th, 1925. It is published by "Izdatelsky Dom Komsomolskaya Pravda" .- History :...
” newspaper. Sergey Ponomarev was in charge for making public statements, which fomented the hatred and humiliated people because of their sexual orientation.
On the January 11, the public prosecutor's office gave a warning to the newspaper, saying: “The examination established that Ponomarev’s statements expressed the negative attitude towards the people with homosexual sexual orientation. For the above-stated reason, the interdistrict prosecutor's office issues a warning to the ZAO “Komsomolskaya Pravda Publishing House”, that breach of the law in the mass-media are intolerable”.
On September 17 – September 27, 2009, the International Festival of Queer Culture was held in Saint Petersburg. For ten days, the cultural workers discussed the problems of tolerance to homosexuals and “different” people. Among the participants of the festival were the groups “Kolibri
Kolibri (band)
Kolibri is a Soviet/Russian experimental pop/rock group formed in 1988 in Saint-Petersburg playing a highly eclectic brand of baroque pop blended with elements of post-punk, cabaret, chanson and dominated by vocal harmony...
”, “Iva Nova”, “Betty
Betty (band)
BETTY is an alternative rock group from New York City. The group originated in Washington, D.C. and traces its lineage to a birthday party for Dodie Bowers . The band's harmonies and unique lyrics attracted a cult following in the vibrant alternative music scene and among gay/lesbian audiences...
”, “S’nega” (Aleksey Raakhov’s project), the poets Dita Karelina, Liya Kirgetova, Elena Novozhilova, the singers Olga Krauze, Tatiana Puchko and others. The photo exhibitions, the theater performances, the concerts of rock music and guitar poetry, poetry readings, art workshops, film representations, drag-king shows, seminars and discussions took place at the festival.
On October 30 2009, Human Rights Committee
Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets three times a year for four-week sessions to consider the five-yearly reports submitted by 162 UN member states on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,...
of UN on the 97th session presented a report about the situation with human rights in Russia, based on the report of Russian LGBT Network. The accent was made on violation of LGBT rights.
On December 24, 2009, Russian LGBT Network published press release, greeting the Patriarch Kirill’s declaration about the inadmissibility of the sexual orientation discrimination.
External links
- Russian LGBT network — Official site.