Russian gay rights activist vows to out gay lawmakers who vote for anti-gay legislation

Sep 10 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

A Russian gay rights activist and journalist has said she will publicly out any gay lawmakers who aren’t out, and who vote for a proposed bill to remove the parenting rights of LGBT people.

Lawmaker Alexei Zhuravlyov last week proposed a bill which would deny gay parents custody over their own children. If passed it would make “non traditional sexual orientation” a basis for the deprivation of parental rights. It places same-sex sexual orientation in the same category as alcohol and drug abuse.

Elena Kostyuchenko announced her campaign on Twitter, and appealed to her followers for “information, correspondence, photographs … about the deputies of the State Duma concerning LGBT”, said a translation by the New Civil Rights Movement’s David Badash.

Kostyuchenko said she would publish a report which would out closeted lawmakers when the bill gets its first reading in the Duma.

She said that forced outing of gay lawmakers was a drastic measure, but said that the treatment of LGBT people in Russia had grown worse, and now calls for the measure. “Now, it seems such a time has come,” she said.

“This is a warning. They want to destroy our lives, and we will destroy them,” Kostyuchenko added.