Liberal International, 3 March 2014
In the face of numerous institutional obstruction, LI full member, Yabloko, has held a round-table discussion on LGBT rights with participants from civil society, political, and religious groups. The outcome of the meeting saw the successful establishment of a contact group for the victims of anti-LGBT violence.

Chair of YABLOKO’s Gender group, Galina Mikhaleva, expressed concern that the Russian state had been knowingly conducting anti-LGBT policies: “This moves us farther from the liberal values, protection of human rights, and towards the countries that reject these values.”

“These values are reflected in the UN conventions ratified by many countries, including Russia”, added Mikhaleva.

As participants reached consensus over important issues, such as non-violence against LGBT persons, Chairman of the Russian LGBT Network, Igor Kochetkov, proposed the creation of a contact group consisting of different social forces in order to respond quickly to events and provide assessment. Building on this, Nikolai Kavkazsky, a member of the Yabloko Youth, called for the restoration of the “separation of church and state”, as envisaged by the Russian constitution.

These latest developments on LGBT rights in Russia come as the LI President, Hans van Baalen MEP, and Chair of the LI LGBT Workgroup, Frank van Dalen, hit back against the banning of so-called “homosexual propaganda” by Russian authorities around the Sochi Winter Olympics.

A detailed contribution from all of the panellists can be found here.

The original publication