Jaiden Matthews Common Assignment

The Russian Supreme Court has recently ruled that the LGBTQ+ movement is an extremist group and banned any form of activism or support for LGBTQ+ rights in Russia. The details of the case and the hearing have been classified, leading to public outrage. The Russian government claims they are protecting Russian culture from Western influence. LGBTQ+ activists argue that they are being persecuted without justification. The government has passed laws that restrict gender-affirming care and gender reassignment surgeries for transgender citizens. Many feel that Russia is trying to expel LGBTQ+ individuals from the country. There are limited options for combating the government's actions, but activists are fighting and raising awareness. It is important to unite and fight against discrimination together. This is Jaden Matthews' common assignment submission. The date is December 3rd, 2023. The topic for this discussion is the Russian Supreme Court's ruling which labels the LGBTQ plus movement as an extremist group and outlaws any form of LGBTQ plus activism or support in the country of Russia. This is an extremely recent event, having just transpired this past month of November, and it marks the most recent instance in a long-standing battle between the Russian government and the Russian LGBTQ plus movement and community. So just to kind of get into some of the more details of the case, the ruling was filed earlier this month in response to the Justice Ministry's lawsuit which labeled the LGBTQ plus movement as an extremist organization and opted to ban it. The Russian Supreme Court then held a hearing, a private closed-door hearing in which they discussed the details of the lawsuit, and at the end of that hearing, Judge Oleg Neftal came out and recited the verdict. Now what's interesting is that much of the details regarding the lawsuit and even the hearing itself have all been classified. No real information or details or specificities have been released to the public. As I mentioned, it was a closed-door hearing, so no journalists were allowed inside, and even at the end, when journalists were asked questions or journalists asked questions, none of the questions were answered. Nobody spoke or gave any interviews, and to this day, the Russian Justice Ministry and Supreme Court have yet to make any form of announcement or statement regarding the ruling. But as one can imagine, the verdict led to a huge public outcry from the Russian LGBTQ plus community. Max Olnitshev, a human rights lawyer, actually spoke with the Associated Press, and he gave his take on it, saying, in quotes, authorities are doing everything for the LGBT agenda to disappear from the public square, in quotes. And he talked more about how this ruling will effectively shut down any forms of legal, medical, or psychological, or any other form of support or resources for LGBTQ people in Russia, because by law, these different initiatives and groups are illegal, and they are operating under criminal activities. And this is not the first instance of the Russian government trying to silence LGBTQ voices. As I mentioned, this has been a long-standing battle between the two sides dating back, one can go to 2013, when the Kremlin first passed the Gay Propaganda Law that banned any form of exposure or endorsement of what they called non-traditional sexual relations amongst minors. And then, just last year, in 2020, they released a similar law, but this one was geared towards adults. And you can even go back to 2019, NPR released an article by Sasha Inga that reported of the detainment of 40 LGBTQ plus community members in Chechnya, as well as the deaths of two more. And what's relatively interesting on this event specifically is that there was no inciting incident. Chechnya is a known, very, very conservative, and very Muslim area within Russia, and there was a civil rights activist who was, for whatever reason, detained by Chechen authorities. They then went through their contacts, and then made a list of notable LGBTQ activists in the Chechnya area, and essentially hunted them down. What the justification was for that, still no one is entirely sure. But it is just another example of how the government in Russia has been persecuting these LGBTQ plus citizens for no real reason. Now, of course, the Russian government has talked about this in the past. Actually, just earlier this year, in a UN meeting, the Human Rights Council asked Russian representatives if the country was discriminating against LGBTQ community members in their country, to which, of course, they refuted the accusations and stated that all Russian citizens, including LGBT citizens, were given the same rights and liberties. But, of course, their actions say otherwise. But even still, the Russian authorities and representatives have continued to come out and their side of why they're doing what they're doing. The main argument that comes from the Russian authorities is that they're attempting to preserve Russian culture. As the Russian government has kind of presented it, they believe that LGBTQ activities are the result of Western, specifically United States influence. And as everyone knows, Russia and the United States won't get along. And so the Russians believe that what they're seeing with the LGBTQ plus movement in their country is the direct result of the spread of the United States' influence, and they are attempting to cleanse that influence, for lack of a better word. Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, has been a very big proponent of reinstilling traditional family values. He himself has actually come out and compared the kind of sexual freedom and sexual gender and fluidity that we have here in the United States to Satanism, which is a very interesting comparison. Of course, many Russians have come out and stated that all of that is nonsense and just a way for the Russians to be able to persecute or to justify the persecution of LGBTQ plus members. But in truth, there is no real justification for what they're doing as far as these LGBTQ plus activists in Russia are concerned. Olga Barbarinova, another prominent activist, actually said in her interview with the Associated Press that, it is clear for us that, once again, they're making us out as a domestic enemy to shift the focus from all the other problems that are in abundance in Russia. And that is actually an interesting perspective, because originally when Russia had invaded Ukraine, part of the justification for that invasion was because they were trying to expel Western influence from Ukraine. And they again mentioned how the effects of the United States had kind of had this impact on Ukraine, and that they were trying to collect that and preserve their culture, and have used that to justify a handful of what are described as gay purges in Ukraine that they've executed as a part of this invasion. And other LGBTQ community members in Russia have kind of stated the major ramifications this will have, both legally or psychologically or medically, for LGBTQ plus citizens and how they are now very, very, very underprotected within their own country. As a matter of fact, the Russian government had passed legislation that would outlaw any form of gender-affirming care for transgender Russian citizens and forbade any form of gender reassignment surgeries. They even passed legislation that prohibited the changing of one's gender on any form of official legal documents or public records, which has kind of, all of these activities have led Russia to become known as a very anti-LGBTQ state, so much so that in a meeting with the UN Human Rights Council, Russian Justice Ministry deputies were asked outright if the country was discriminating against LGBTQ plus citizens, to which, of course, they rejected those accusations and stated that, and quote, the rights of LGBT people in Russia are protected. However, many Russian citizens don't feel that's the case, and they feel as though more and more Russia is trying to find a way to expel them from their own country, and trying to find a way to purge homosexuality from Russia in its entirety. Personally, I am very much in support of the LGBTQ plus movement, just in general, whether it be here in Philadelphia or all the way in Russia, I believe that anyone should be allowed to live how they want to live and love who they want to love, and as such, I do stand in opposition to this ruling and to many of the actions that the Russian government has taken, but what's uniquely interesting and in a way difficult about cases such as these is that it's not really something that any one person can solve. Actually, the solution is simple. It would be to repeal those legislations that are kind of discriminatory to gay and transgender citizens. Of course, the main issue is that the people in power are not willing to change. Many of the Russian authorities, such as Vladimir Putin himself, hold so much political power and so much influence that they can do it, and it's hard to really oppose that. Of course, there are some options. Some LGBTQ plus activists in Russia have chosen to flee the country entirely and to fight from the Many have made pleas to the UN and other forms of international organizations, but at the end of the day, it's just very limited to what exactly we can do to combat an entire country's government, but nonetheless, there are still people fighting and trying to raise awareness. That's part of the reason why I chose this specific case or this specific incident to talk about because I think it is important to highlight the different cultural and social battles that are happening across the country. Here in the United States, actually, there are quite a few people who are attempting to do something similar and to repeal and attack the rights of LGBTQ plus citizens, and it's important to highlight these kind of, as you can say, common enemies or this common ideology that gay people and transgender people and lesbian people and bisexual people should not be allowed to exist in a way or to operate as they please, and by pointing that out and by coming together and uniting, it makes it more easier and more effective to be able to fight back against those, and it's kind of, I guess in a way, it's the proper way to be able to protect oneself by fighting alongside others. But that concludes my common assignment submission. Thank you for listening. I'm not quite sure how to end this.