Police operatives in Moscow have raided several gay clubs, according to a local media report, a day after Russia’s Supreme Court moved to outlaw the “LGBT movement”.
During the raids late Friday, gay clubgoers were temporarily detained and their passports photographed, according to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti.
One clubgoer told reporters that he thought he would face a hefty prison sentence.
According to Ostorozhno Novosti, the police indicated they were looking for drugs. So far, no city authorities have responded.
“In the middle of the party, the music was stopped, and [police] began going into the lounges,” one eyewitness told the outlet, adding that foreigners were also present at the gathering in central Moscow.
According to Sota, another Telegram channel, three clubs in Moscow were searched on Friday evening.
Photos and a video supposedly showing a police van and cops outside one of the clubs have surfaced on social media.
The raids came a day after Russia’s Supreme Court designated the “LGBT public movement” an extremist organization and prohibited its activities throughout the country.
A motion from the justice ministry prompted the ruling, despite the fact that no such organization exists as a legal body.
In 2020, Russia’s constitution was amended to clarify that marriage constituted a relationship between a man and a woman. In Russia, same-sex unions are not recognized.
According to reports, Steve Rosenberg in Moscow, the country’s LGBT community has come under increasing pressure from authorities in recent years. A law forbidding “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” directed at minors was passed in 2013.
In Russia, these limitations were expanded to all age groups last year. LGBT references have been removed from books, films, advertisements, and television broadcasts.
To avoid being accused of violating the “gay propaganda” ban, one Russian TV channel discolored a rainbow in a South Korean pop video earlier this month.
