Gay Rights Protests in Russia

The gay rights protests activity is a peculiar social and political phenomenon in Russia. In the beginning of 2006 the first attempt to organize Gay Pride parade by the Russian LGBT-project ‘GayRussia.ru’ was banned by Moscow’s mayor. This preceded the development of protests activity for gay rights in Russia that were aimed at challenging homophobia, discrimination and violence toward gays and lesbians, and promoting equality rights and protection from harm. However, since 2012 gay rights protests activity has started to take different structure. It was related to the rise of homophobia in the country and the implementation of the federal law banning the ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships’ to minors.

The research will analyze what factors led to the emergence and development of gay rights protests in Russia and what impact did that protests have on gay rights activists and organizations.

The presentation attempts to introduce the first stages of the research, which includes the analysis of social movement theories. The research uses the insights of social movement theories such as political opportunity theory, resource mobilization theory, and new social movement theories in order to understand what factors have influenced the emergence and development of gay rights protests in Russia.