Police raided the home of a gay couple in Minsk, Belarus, and assaulted them. Andrei and Sasha, both university students, said security forces broke into their home last fall, unlocked their smartphones and demanded they reveal the names of “gay men from Minsk and Moscow.”
“They wanted to follow Russia’s example and expose the ‘underground network’ of homosexuals in Belarus,” Andrei said. Associated Press. “They openly told us that if it’s banned in Russia, it should be banned in Belarus as well.”
Andrei and Sasha are just two of at least 32 people detained and assaulted in seven different cities over the past three months, including transgender and non-Japanese people, human rights activists say. Includes 10 people who are binary.
Some of those arrested were released after interrogation, fined and allowed to leave the country, but others remain in detention on charges of “dissemination of pornography,” which is illegal in Belarus and punishable by up to four years in prison. There are some too.
LGBTQ rights group TG House Belarus estimates that the number of people detained could be even higher, although some may be afraid to come forward and contact pro-LGBTQ advocacy groups.
The Belarusian government is cracking down on expressions of LGBTQ identity, mirroring similar measures taken by Russian authorities. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1994, but same-sex marriage remains illegal, and the country has no laws giving rights or legal protections to LGBTQ individuals.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is trying to win over Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wants to outlaw the dissemination of information about “non-traditional sexual relations” and so-called “gay propaganda.” They are copying the president’s efforts.
Belarus is a former Soviet republic with close geopolitical ties and a similar history and culture to Russia. Like Putin, Lukashenko regularly wins elections with more than 80% of the vote and effectively rules the country as an authoritarian “strongman,” imprisoning political opponents and public critics.
Since winning a sixth term in 2020, Lukashenko’s government has arrested an estimated 65,000 people.
Like Putin, he has derided the West as meddlesome enemies intent on undermining the country’s culture and global standing. Russia, with Lukashenko’s permission, used Belarusian territory as a launching pad for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Although Belarus has not yet passed a law explicitly banning depictions of LGBTQ identities or sharing details of LGBTQ-related activities, Lukashenko ally and Senate President Natalia Kochanova has called for similar legislation to be adopted in Belarus. There is. .
She raised the possibility that lawmakers could declare the “international LGBT movement” an extremist group, as the Russian Supreme Court did last year.
“We need to take similar steps,” Kochanova said, according to the Associated Press. “We have family values, traditions that are passed down from generation to generation – family traditions, Orthodox Christianity.”
Alisa Sarmanto, coordinator of TG House Belarus, told the AP that Lukashenko and politicians are trying to “gain some praise from the Russian authorities and strengthen support among Belarus’ conservative population” by promoting LGBTQ rights. He said he was taking actions to repress and silence people.
“To a large extent, this is a carbon copy of what is happening in Russia, but in Belarus all these discriminatory practices have taken on uglier and harsher forms,” she said.
Under Lukashenko, LGBTQ organizations have been shut down, security forces regularly raid nightclubs where underground LGBTQ parties are held, and authorities have sometimes threatened LGBTQ individuals by forcing others to leave or lock them up. .
“In Belarus, threats, arrests and intimidation have been carried out for many years in order to create a so-called ‘LGBTQ+ database’ and declare whole social groups dangerous,” said Pavel of the country’s top human rights organization Viasna Center.・Saperka told the Associated Press. .
After Russia banned gender transition last year, transgender people in Belarus began having problems accessing gender-affirming care, even though there was no law banning transition-related procedures.
Sarmanto said the government has turned away more than 80% of people this year seeking gender-affirming care or having their gender marker amended on their official identity card. The rejection rate increased significantly from 10% in 2020 to 15%.
In April, the country’s Ministry of Culture Expanding the definition of “pornography” Include any depiction of “non-traditional relationships.” This means anyone who possesses images or videos that imply or show same-sex relationships or homosexuality, even if they are not sexually explicit, will be prosecuted under the country’s anti-pornography laws. It means there is a possibility.
Ahead of next month’s presidential election, an anti-LGBTQ bill being pushed by Kochanova and other Lukashenko allies will target those suspected of promoting “non-traditional sexual relations” and “sexual reassignment.” The content is to punish.
The bill also likens anyone who shares or disseminates pro-LGBTQ content to someone who endorses or disseminates pedophilic content, which itself carries a penalty of up to 13 years in prison.
Salmanto pointed out that TG House Belarus has launched a petition campaign against the proposed, still vaguely defined law, and has collected 33,000 signatures. She told The Associated Press that recent attacks on LGBTQ venues may be a form of political retaliation for opposing the bill “so everyone can hide, be scared, and most of all, be silent.”
As the crackdown on LGBTQ visibility and LGBTQ-related speech continues, LGBTQ people have been subjected to severe physical abuse at the hands of security forces, with some fleeing the country and seeking asylum abroad. There is.
Andrei and Sasha, whose home was attacked, said that if the bill becomes law, they plan to leave rather than “waiting for a prison sentence.”
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Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
