Moscow Clubgoers Arrested in “LGBTQ Propaganda” Raids
A Russian court has found patrons arrested after raids of three Moscow LGBTQ nightclubs guilty of "petty hooliganism."
A dozen Moscow clubgoers have been found guilty of “petty hooliganism” and detained following recent raids of nightclubs by Russian security forces.
The nightclub patrons were arrested on Saturday, Nov. 30, and in the early morning hours of Sunday, Dec. 1, at three separate venues — Arma, Inferno, and Mono — as part of an effort to “combat LGBT propaganda,” according to a statement government officials gave to TASS, the Russian state-run news agency.
Videos and images of the raids were shared on social media. Videos from Arma showed patrons sitting on the dance floor while riot police walked around shouting orders, reported The Moscow Times.
Baza, an anonymously-run Telegram news channel with over 1.5 million followers, reported that police blocked club exits and interrogated patrons at Arma before detaining dozens. Those not brought into police custody were allowed to leave three hours after the raid began.
Another video from Mono showed people being walked out of the club with their hands above their heads, with a police van parked outside.
The interior ministry also claimed that an unnamed nightclub — later identified by sources as Inferno — had been “propagandizing the ideology of the banned LGBT movement” and was illegally selling alcohol to patrons.
Police in Moscow also arrested the director of “Men Travel,” a travel agency for gay men, on suspicion of “organizing tours for members of the LGBT community,” specifically a trip for “supporters of non-traditional sexual values to go to Egypt for the New Year holidays,” according to TASS.
A Moscow court declared the detained clubgoers guilty, accusing them of committing “an administrative offense, which was expressed in obvious disrespect for society, accompanied by obscene language in a public place.”
The raids were executed on the one-year anniversary of the Russian Supreme Court’s ruling that LGBTQ activists and the LGBTQ “movement” should be designated as extremists. Russians who are found guilty of engaging with extremist movements can potentially be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
Last week’s raids are neither new nor surprising. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, gay bars across the country have been subjected to sporadic raids by police. Russian authorities have also prosecuted various citizens for displaying images, clothing, or symbols that are associated with the LGBTQ community.
Last year, the Russian television channel TNT Music removed a rainbow featured in the music video for the K-pop group Seventeen’s hit song “God of Music.” In February, a woman was arrested and charged with spreading “LGBT propaganda” for wearing rainbow-colored earrings, while another was prosecuted for displaying a rainbow Pride flag on her Instagram account.
Russian law enforcement agents even raided a “My Little Pony” convention for allegedly promoting homosexuality, due to some characters’ perceived gender-nonconformity, as well as the belief that a rainbow-colored unicorn was a symbol of support for LGBTQ rights.
While the number of raids and prosecutions has increased since last year’s Supreme Court verdict, Russia, under the presidency of Vladimir Putin, has been carrying out a more than decade-long crackdown against the LGBTQ community under the guise of protecting minors from being exposed to information about sexual and gender minorities.
Putin frequently rails against Western “values” and freedoms as incompatible with Russia’s national identity and has attempted to crush or silence movements, like those related to LGBTQ equality, on the belief that they serve as breeding grounds for government criticism.
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