Russia is accusing social workers in Moscow of criminal negligence after state officials learned that a same-sex couple had adopted and were raising children together.
There is no law against same-sex adoption in Russia, but the country’s lack of official recognition of same-sex relationships is a de facto ban, as same-sex couples cannot jointly register as a child’s parent when adopting.
In this case, the couple adopted the boys in 2010, with one father registering as their sole parent to allow the adoption to be processed.
The adoption predated Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ people and relationships, best exemplified in the country’s 2013 ban on so-called “gay propaganda,” which bans exposing minors to “nontraditional relationships.”
But that law is now being wielded by the government to prosecute social services and potentially remove the children from the fathers.
Deutsche Welle reports that Russian authorities became aware of the family after one of the sons was taken to hospital with suspected appendicitis.
After the son mentioned that he was being raised by two fathers, a doctor called police. That led to Russia’s Investigative Committee — a federal investigative office — launching a criminal case against the social workers who allowed the adoption to go ahead.
In a statement on the committee’s website, they accused the adoptive father of child abuse and violating the anti-gay “propaganda” ban by “promoting non-traditional relationships, giving the children distorted perceptions about family values and harming their health and their moral and spiritual development.”
The fathers were invited to a “conversation” with officials about their family, but according to Human Rights Watch they instead chose to leave the country with their children, fearing social services would remove their sons.
Deutsche Welle reports that social workers had not received any complaints about the family. Instead, they had given the fathers a positive evaluation and noted that the family lived comfortably, with one of the fathers a teacher at a higher education institute and the boys regularly looked after by their grandmother and a nanny.
That wasn’t enough to stop authorities from charging the social workers who approved the adoption with a charge of inadequate performance of duties, an offense punishable by up to three months in prison.
Police also reportedly searched the family’s apartment and the the apartment of relatives.
Maksim Olenichev, lawyer for Russian LGBTQ group Vykhod [coming out], told Deutsche Welle that there is not currently a case against the parents, but that the situation could change.
Vykhod is apparently advising the men, who are refusing to speak to press or return to Russia out of fear for their family’s safety.
The ultimate fear is that, by prosecuting the social workers who approved the adoption, the Russian government could ultimately nullify their decision and remove the couple’s sons.
“So far, the law has been enforced so that LGBT people don’t carry out public events,” Olenichev said, noting that if officials use the propaganda ban to charge the fathers with a crime, it “could become the first time that this law is applied to someone’s private life.”
Despite reports in Russian media of violence, child abuse, and even rape being the reason for the son’s hospitalization, Olenichev said that the children feel “comfortable and safe in the family” and that there are no “indications of violence.”
It has led to various homophobic actions, from the ridiculous to the extreme, inlcuding LGBTQ people being warned not to “publicly display sexuality” at the 2018 Russian World Cup, or a Russian politician who claimed that a naked statue on a Russian banknote was ‘gay propaganda.’
Last month, filmmaker Oliver Stone was criticized after he called the propaganda ban “sensible” and talked negatively about people who express their gender identity.
During an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Stone told Putin, “It seems like maybe that’s a sensible law.”
Just last month, the ECHR ordered the Russian government to pay damages to three LGBTQ groups, after they were denied permission to register as associations because of the anti-gay “propaganda” law.
A gay Holocaust survivor is comparing former President Donald Trump's autocratic tendencies and propaganda tactics to former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
With the help of her children and grandchildren, the 88-year-old woman, known as Grandma Elli, was able to familiarize herself with TikTok and start posting observations about the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
"I've been around a long time and seen many crises, but never like this one in our country," she said in her first video. "As far as I can see, there's really only one question to answer as we decide who we want for our next president, and that is: Do we want to continue our democracy, civil liberties, and free elections, or do we want a 'wannabe dictator,' by his own words, who will go after our freedoms one by one, dismantle them, and then take vengeance on all who disagreed with him?"
A mid-afternoon Grindr hookup on Manhattan's Upper East Side turned into a bloody double stabbing that left one would-be sexual partner dead and another seriously injured.
Police say that a 27-year-old man had invited another man from the gay dating app to his apartment on East 95th Street around 1:30 p.m. Once inside, the visitor suddenly blurted out, "I hate all people!"
The visitor allegedly pulled out a knife and began stabbing the 27-year-old. The victim grabbed a kitchen knife and sought to defend himself by stabbing his assailant in the chest and neck, according to police.
Moscow police raided two gay nightclubs in the city, detaining over 50 people as part of an ongoing crackdown against LGBTQ visibility.
According to the pro-Russian government Telegram channels MSK1 and SHOT, one of the raids was carried out against the Central Station nightclub in downtown Moscow under the auspices of investigating alleged "drug trafficking."
Central Station was holding an event marking National Coming Out Day when police raided the venue around 1 a.m. About 200 people were inside at the time.
Videos from the club show police officers forcing people to lie on the ground with their hands behind their heads or stand with their hands against the wall and violently frisking them.
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