Clubgoers Arrested in Police Raid Fined for “Looking Too Gay”
Men arrested during a raid for wearing feminine clothing were among several fined for violating Russia's anti-"LGBT propaganda" law.
Seven people arrested by police during a nightclub raid in the Russian city of Tula last February were fined for “looking too gay.”
It’s just one instance among hundreds of legal cases in which Russians were prosecuted for allegedly spreading “LGBT propaganda.”
Security forces detained at least eight people during the raid of the club Typography. Videos show it was carried out by men in military-style uniforms and helmets.
Officers allege that those detained were “trying to arouse interest in non-traditional sexual relations” through their clothing and mannerisms.
Although the gathering was not advertised as a “gay” or “LGBTQ” party, authorities targeted the club after being alerted of a description from promoters casting the event as a night of “love, openness, and sexuality.”
As reported by the Russian human rights organization OVD-Info at the time, security forces and plainclothes police officers forced patrons to lie on the floor, photographed them, beat them, and threatened them while shouting insults.
Police selected eight of the “most feminine-looking” men from the event and arrested them, taking them out into the snow and beating them further.
As reported by the independent Russian news outlet Verstka, one detained man was wearing a women’s “long, bright green fur coat,” black leather pants, green and white sneakers, and earrings. His hair had been dyed bright green.
Another man was “dressed in a women’s-style corset on his naked body,” a short black jacket, black mesh netting on his arms, with crosses of black tape across his nipples.
Police submitted photographs of the detained men as evidence, with judges agreeing that the men’s clothing was “inconsistent with the image of a man of traditional sexual orientation.”
In total, seven of the eight men were found guilty of the charge of promoting “non-traditional sexual relations” and fined.
The eighth man was able to avoid a fine by arguing that he was dressed in a gothic “vampire” style — with a black T-shirt rolled up to his chest, piercings in his eyebrow and ear, and turquoise-colored hair — because he loves the goth subculture.
At least two of the men were fined 50,000 rubles ($453).
According to Verstka, in 2024, judges throughout the country heard at least 131 cases in which people were accused of violating Russia’s anti-LGBT “propaganda” law, which prohibits depictions or displays of LGBTQ identity, dissemination of LGBTQ-related information, or advocacy on behalf of gay and transgender rights.
The law also allows for online cinemas and TV stations to be fined and even temporarily suspended if they fail to mark films or videos depicting same-sex relations or LGBTQ characters as “prohibited for children.”
The initial law, passed in 2013, only banned the spreading of LGBTQ-related content among minors. It was expanded in 2022 to prohibit the promotion of “non-traditional lifestyles,” even among adults.
Under the law, Russian citizens, foreign nationals, and various legal have been punished for actions as benign as posting LGBTQ “Pride” flags on social media, wearing rainbow-colored earrings, or dressing in clothing that does not align with traditional expectations of gender presentation.
Authorities have also prosecuted more overt displays of intimacy or sexuality, such as two women who were arrested for kissing each other or a straight rapper who was sentenced to 15 days in jail for wearing a sock at a “nearly naked” party at a Moscow nightclub, even though the party wasn’t LGBTQ-themed.
More recently, a travel agent who died while in police custody was accused of having used his business to organize and promote tours targeted at gay men. Authorities claimed the man committed suicide.
Such prosecutions have only increased as Russian police and security forces have carried out multiple raids of venues where LGBTQ people are thought to gather in response to a Russian Supreme Court decision declaring the “international LGBT movement” an “extremist” organization.
According to the court, the “LGBT movement” was founded in the United States with the aim of decreasing birth rates among Russians — and therefore, lessening Russia’s economic and military power — by encouraging people to pursue “non-traditional lifestyles.”
This rhetoric aligns with assertions made by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his socially conservative political allies, who have sought to cast LGBTQ identity as a form of Western-style cultural imperialism that threatens the traditional values and overall stability of Russian society.
Verstka notes that its tally of prosecutions for 2024 is based on publicly available court records. The total prosecutions for alleged violations of the anti-“propaganda” law may be even higher.
In 71 of the 131 known cases, citizens were found guilty and received fines of varying degrees, ranging from 50,000 rubles ($453) to 200,000 rubles ($1,809). In 20 other cases, legal entities were found in violation of the law and fined.
In other cases, Russian judges deported four foreign citizens from the country — three men and a transgender woman — for violating the “LGBT propaganda” law. Two of the men were arrested for performing oral sex on each other in a secluded area of a public park, while the third man and the transgender woman, separately, had been advertising sex services for money.
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