Almost Half of Russia’s LGBTQ+ Residents Faced Violence or Threats Last Year, Survey Finds

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 21 – A survey of 6403 LGBTQ+ people in Russia, disproportionately male and from the capitals, found that almost half – 47.5 percent – faced violence or the threat of violence during 2024, up four percent from the year before, that many feel compelled to hide their natures and suffering economically because of them, and that some want to emigrate.

            The Putin regime’s ban on what it calls “LGBT propaganda” and its attacks on the non-existent “LGBT international movement” have powered this increase in attacks on gays with many Russians concluding on the basis of these moves that attacking gays is something the government supports (paperpaper.io/neosoznanno-oglyadyvaemsya-pochti-po/).

            The 88-page report on the survey, the third in an annual series by the Coming Out [Vykhod] Rights Group and the Sphere Foundation, documents these travails and the role of the increasingly fascist Putin regime in inflicting them, is available online at spherequeer.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Доклад-Выход-Сфера-2024_количеств.pdf.