Russian court declares prominent LGBTQ media outlet ‘extremist organisation’
A court in Russia’s Oryol region has declared the online LGBTQ publication Parni+ an “extremist organisation”, effectively banning its activities in Russia, the outlet announced on Thursday.
The decision means that organisers and members of Parni+ in Russia face potential prison sentences, and are legally obligated to cease their activities. The organisation has published advice, news stories, and sexual health guidance for LGBT and queer Russians for nearly 18 years, and the group’s Telegram channel has over 30,000 subscribers.
In the statement, Parni+ said that its website and social media channels would continue to operate, noting that subscribing to, reading, or viewing its content remained legal in Russia.
The group added that the site’s editors would appeal the decision, which was based on “evidence” that Parni+ had published stories about queer people from Russian regions, articles about self-acceptance, materials about LGBTQ families, and reports on violations of LGBTQ rights.
"When the state declares that people who write about love, rights, and mental health are extremists, it essentially admits that the truth about LGBT people is more dangerous to it than any propaganda”, said editor-in-chief Yevgeny Pisemsky.
Pisemsky has been on Russia’s “foreign agents” registry since 2020 and is currently facing three charges of “LGBT propaganda”. He previously founded the non-profit organisation Phoenix+, which gave advice and support to HIV-positive Russians.
The extremism designation for Parni+ comes after the Russian Justice Ministry labelled queer journalist Vadim Vaganov an “extremist” on Monday, the first individual to be so designated due to queer activism. Vaganov had previously worked for Parni+.
Vaganov is the first person to be named by the Russian authorities as a member of the fictitious “International LGBT Movement”, which was itself designated an extremist organisation by Russia’s Supreme Court in 2023. The Supreme Court said in its original ruling that the “International LGBT Movement” had 281 members, but did not name them.
