Russian security forces raided gay clubs and bars across Moscow Friday night, less than 48 hours after the country’s top court banned what it called the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organization.

Police searched venues across the Russian capital, including a nightclub, a male sauna, and a bar that hosted LGBTQ+ parties, under the pretext of a drug raid, local media reported.

Eyewitnesses told journalists that clubgoers’ documents were checked and photographed by the security services. They also said that managers had been able to warn patrons before police arrived.

    • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      50
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      Russia has always been anti-LGBT+. Stalin called them abomination and Putin is just a dimestore version of that monster.

      • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        It’s worth remembering that for all of the numerous issues Western nations and especially the US have with freedom of speech and expression, for every convert to some racist ideology, there is also a new supporter of LGBT+. The rise in hate we see is paralleled by a rise in acceptance of the marginalized. Freeze peaches is a double edged sword and always has been.

        The paradox of tolerance is certainly an issue, but the very fact we’ve evolved as a culture to the point we’re having a discussion about it says something about the benefits of that freedom. Our culture isn’t stagnant. We have the capacity for growth and change, and while the government usually maintains the social status quo, we in turn can affect what the status quo is.

    • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      23
      ·
      8 months ago

      I don’t know people incorrectly try to associate everything with Nazi. It’s hard to take anyone serious when they don’t even know what a Nazi is.

      This isn’t dissimilar from how they were under the Soviet Union. Russians are just going to Russian.

      • underwire212@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        24
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        Not so much “Russians being Russian” as it is “Fascist power structure being fascist power structure “

      • chaogomu@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        21
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        8 months ago

        It’s more accurate to say that Russia under the Soviets was also an authoritarian state.

        Authoritarians by their very nature are right-wing.

        Putin, the Soviets, the Nazis, Conservatives, and Fascists of all flavors are obsessed with control and conformity.

        It’s far easier to control a population when everyone is exactly the same.

        This is why the true left wing movements have always embraced minorities and outliers.

        This of course is a call back to the very origins of the terms left and right when discussing politics. The French Revolution. A vote was held. One of the first of the new assembly. The question was, “Should the king have an absolute veto over new laws?”. Those in support of the monarchy sat to the right of the speaker’s podium. Those opposed sat to the left.

        All the economic bullshit of capitalism v communism was added later. Making the Soviets, a supposedly communist nation, firmly right wing. Not that the Soviets were particularly good at actual communism. Communism sort of requires the workers to control the means of production, not the State. Workers must be working for their own profit, not the profit of the State.

        Working for the profit of the State is more of a kleptocracy.

      • Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        8 months ago

        The nazis criminalized, imprisoned, and eventually exterminated gay and transgender people in death camps. So yes, comparisons to nazis are fair when you criminalize lgbt people and start rounding them up in jail, preventing them from gathering together, etc etc

      • DarkGamer@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        12
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        It’s true that authleft often looks a lot like authright, which supports the theory that political alignment is more like a circle than a line. After all, they were allies before Hitler betrayed Stalin. Since then being anti-Nazi became a big part of Russian propaganda.

  • ocassionallyaduck@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    81
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    8 months ago

    To everyone cracking jokes about a gay uprising, it’s a lot simpler than any of that.

    They just want to exterminate the gays. Like literally. They want to find that portion of the population and destroy it, because they think it’s disgusting and evil.

    That’s it. Putin and the Russian conservatives are going after gays because it’s an easy win with their conservative base, and they can claim moral superiority. Also distracts from Ukraine.

    If you are gay in Russia… Its a very bad time to be gay in Russia.

      • Coasting0942@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        Their Stochastic terrorism has too low of a rate. Either move onto more practical efforts, or make the whole world worse to increase the Stochastic terrorism rates.

        Well shit, they’re just going to do both.

    • lattenwald@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      8 months ago

      They need a new enemy every now and then. If the current enemy happens to be exterminated, they’ll need one sooner, but they’ll need a new one anyways.

    • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      8 months ago

      That’s it. Putin and the Russian conservatives are going after gays because it’s an easy win with their conservative base, and they can claim moral superiority. Also distracts from Ukraine.

      There you said it. They don’t care about gay people. They need an easy win with conservative public before future (mock) elections and to distract people from Ukraine. And they also want a weapon to proclaim anyone they dislike an extremist.

      Can you prove you aren’t gay? Let’s see. It’a either you record a video of apologizing for being gay, or we stuff a broom up your ass and you record a video of apologizing for being gay 🤗 Either way, 10 years in a joint.

      I’ve recently seen a good article in a ru-language blogosphere. These pieces of shit who climbed to the power in the 90s and 00s break every ladder to their positions, they want to establish themselves as new nobles, and they need a variety of tools to persecute whoever they dislike. They want the good ol’ serfdom. They build it as we speak.

      It’s not bad if you are gay and noble. Gref, Volodin, others are gossiped to be gay. Rather it’s bad to be not in their club, like most do. Then you are in a risk of being persecuted and robbed of everything over nothing.

      It’s 21th century and neo-feudalism is on the rise! Fuck, I hate it here.

  • Tattorack@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    59
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 months ago

    Well we’ll well. I thought Russia said the nazis were in Ukraine. Huh. Funny, that.

      • Tattorack@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        42
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        Sure it can. But that doesn’t mean it is.

        Oh I’m sure if you look hard enough you’ll find one or two nazis hiding anywhere, even if they don’t identy as nazi or even know what it means.

        But Russia, with its actions, have proven themselves to be an imperialist, nationalist, fascist piece of shit. And while both could be true, actions speak louder.

        • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          19
          ·
          8 months ago

          integrating the azov brigade into the national guard sounds like a bunch of Nazis are in the government to me.

      • ArxCyberwolf@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        35
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        8 months ago

        No, and you can fuck right off out of here. Nobody wants to hear your pro-terrorist bullshit.

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        8 months ago

        You need to study the subject more closely before stating that (: Slavik nazism is a deep rabbithole, but for the purpose of this article, I compare two governments, and one of them does indulge in that kind of rhetoric more than the other.

        • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          11
          ·
          edit-2
          8 months ago

          I don’t think either government is any better than the other. I don’t think either set of Nazis is any better than the other.

          • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            edit-2
            8 months ago

            Because you don’t live here and you are stupid. Not by IQ or disability, you intentionally choose to be stupid. And to carry the lie fed to you. It’s easy because you have nothing to lose. Grow up bitch, you can stop simulating a kremlinbot as you aren’t even paid for that. Wake up.

            Ukraine as a state is fucked up and corrupted - any ukrainian I know would say that. But they are healing and facing towards eurointegration. The other state shakes hands with Iran, North Korea, Talibs. It says enough.

            I’m sorry for being a bit rude. I’m just drunk and angry and tired of foreigners portraying my country as anything but a prison it is. Who’d even want to be born in it?

            • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              8 months ago

              your insults don’t change whether ukraine has a serious nazi problem. they formed a paramilitary group. that group has been intentionally integrated into the ukranian military. it’s not a lie.

              i don’t think i’ve ever once excused russia or its government.

              you should apologize.

      • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        8 months ago

        Yes there are stupid people everywhere. In most places they aren’t literally running the country.

    • Erika2rsis@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      Actual quotes from Hexbears that I got when discussing Russia with them:

      “Those reactionary shitstains [the Russian government] has little to be proud of.”

      “Russia is extremly Reactionary […] thats why Russia has a Real Problem with “White Supremacy” , [and] no problems with hunting down LGBTQ+ […]”

      Now I don’t exactly see anybody on Hexbear presently discussing this particular bit of news about crackdowns on LGBT+, but I’ll go post about this news on Hexbear and see how the people there react. I have a feeling it’s going to be consistent with my previous experiences discussing Russia with Hexbears, which is also going to be the reaction that I’d expect from an instance that skews heavily LGBT+.

      • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        My experience has been exactly the opposite. They go out of their way to defend Russia and China and will hardly utter a word of criticism against either.

    • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      8 months ago

      It’s because they are campists. They don’t actually care about egalitarianism. Or leftism.

    • catch22@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      Those slimy bootlicking fucks on hexbear I imagine are mostly fortunate Russians that haven’t been sent to the front line. I wonder if they feel anything watching their country men die in dirt while posting pig balls on the internet. Strange fucking world. I’d post this on hexbear, but I’ve just been banned by them, typical spineless fascists.

      • ZILtoid1991@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        8 months ago

        No, they just take a far-right government appropriating left-wing terminology in good faith, which they did since the 1920’s.

      • cygnus@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        8 months ago

        Like the sacred band of Thebes, but they’re a government body instead of an army platoon.

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    8 months ago

    clubgoers’ documents were checked and photographed by the security services

    That’s the worst part. Being on any list of this state is a danger. Especially when they want another batch of bodies to once again storm Avdyivka. Hope they can nope-out from all possible traps. It’s just… it would be totally spelled out they are here because they are gay, and it means a faith worse than death. Place is cursed.

  • magnetosphere@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    8 months ago

    People want to be treated like human beings regardless of who they love? Yes, that’s a dangerously extreme view. Wanting to exterminate them all is perfectly normal, however.

    • Szymon@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      They’re creating lists of people and looking into their associated social networks. Do you want to be on a list of people your government has suddenly associated with crime and terrorism because your cousin went to a gay bar?

  • pelya@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    8 months ago

    When you are losing the war you started.

    Blame gays.

    When your policies fail.

    Blame gays.

    When your government is less popular than cancer.

    Blame gays.

    When you are getting mass protests.

    Blame Jews. But Jews have nukes, oops. Then blame gays!

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Russian security forces raided gay clubs and bars across Moscow Friday night, less than 48 hours after the country’s top court banned what it called the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organization.

    Police searched venues across the Russian capital, including a nightclub, a male sauna, and a bar that hosted LGBTQ+ parties, under the pretext of a drug raid, local media reported.

    The ruling, which was made in response to a lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry, is the latest step in a decadelong crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights under President Vladimir Putin, who has emphasized “traditional family values” during his 24 years in power.

    Activists have noted the lawsuit was lodged against a movement that is not an official entity, and that under its broad and vague definition authorities could crack down on any individuals or groups deemed to be part of it.

    Before the ruling, leading Russian human rights groups had filed a document with the Supreme Court that called the Justice Ministry lawsuit discriminatory and a violation of Russia’s constitution.

    Earlier this month, Russian media quoted Deputy Justice Minister Andrei Loginov as saying that “the rights of LGBT people in Russia are protected” legally.


    The original article contains 635 words, the summary contains 197 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Dr. Coomer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    8 months ago

    For a second I read it as if we invadeed a Russian gay bar and revealed that Russia was ok with gays.