Report: Kremlin Compiling Database Of LGBTQ Citizens

Reports from independent Russian media indicate that Russia has been working for over a year to compile an electronic database of LGBTQ+ Russian citizens. In November 2023, the nation’s highest court labeled the global LGBTQ+ rights movement as ‘extremist.’ Since then, sources have informed Meduza that law enforcement agencies have been assembling a registry aimed at monitoring ‘extremist’ LGBTQ+ individuals in Russia. These officials, part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, are compiling the list based on police records of LGBTQ+ individuals who have been arrested during recent operations. The authorities perceive LGBTQ+ individuals as a clandestine network of ‘paramilitary groups’ advocating for an ‘open gender war’ and participating in ‘devil worship’, as reported by insiders. According to sources within the ministry, the watch list includes many LGBTQ+ patrons and venue operators who have been apprehended in recent months due to Russia’s ‘gay propaganda’ law. One gay bar owner told Meduza that during a recent raid “security forces copied the entire database from the computer where we keep track of reservations”