In 2023, the Russian Supreme Court declared the “international L.G.B.T.Q. movement” an “extremist organization,” which is now forcing the L.G.B.T.Q. community underground, according to members and advocacy groups. A travel agency was raided by police officers due to its offerings aimed at men, leading to the owner’s subsequent death in prison. Authorities have been cracking down on the Easter European nation, and interrogations and raids on L.G.B.T.Q. organizations have increased as a result. The Russian government has been promoting traditional values and heterosexual families with multiple children, and young people are more accepting of the L.G.B.T.Q. community than older individuals. Tatyana Vinnichenko, a veteran L.G.B.T.Q. activist, says that the nation’s continuous denunciations of L.G.B.T.Q. individuals will have consequences, and has led to an ongoing migration of gay and trans people from Russia.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/world/europe/russia-lgbtq-gay-prison-death-andrei-kotov.html