A Russian court has declared the Russian LGBT Network, another organization of sexual minorities, to be extremist.
April 28, 2026, 06:13April 28, 2026, 06:13
“Your activity on the territory of Russia is prohibited,” the court in St. Petersburg said on Telegram. The court thus complied with a lawsuit from the Ministry of Justice. The hearing was not public.
LGBTQ demonstration 2020 in Moscow: Today the Russian government is taking even more repressive action against queer people.Image: keystone
The organization announced that it would appeal. “The court has effectively labeled supporting the LGBTQ community, documenting cases of discrimination, protecting rights and basically any discussion about what is happening to queer people in Russia as ‘extremism,'” she wrote on Telegram. The organization will continue its work. The English abbreviation LGBTQ stands for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans people and queer people.
According to media reports, this is the sixth such court decision in just a few weeks. LGBT groups in Yekaterinburg, Samara and the capital Moscow had previously been banned on accusations of extremism.
The Russian LGBT network from St. Petersburg, founded in 2006, is considered one of the largest national associations for the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals. The organization has been listed by the Ministry of Justice in the “foreign agents” register since 2021.
There has been a ban on “LGBT propaganda” in Russia since 2013. In 2022, the legal situation regarding the dissemination of information about “non-traditional sexual relationships, pedophilia or gender transition” was tightened again. (sda/dpa)