LGBTQ Group Shut Down by Putin Is Back From the Dead
Source: Daily Beast
LGBTQ Group Shut Down by Putin Is Back From the Dead
Russia’s biggest gay rights group was liquidated in last year’s crackdown but now they are back and determined to fight Putin’s homophobic diktats.
Ankush Kumar
Updated Jan. 08, 2023 3:15AM ET Published Jan. 07, 2023 11:19PM ET
Russia’s biggest LGBTQ organization is back, less than a year since Vladimir Putin’s government forced it to close, suing it for acting under “foreign influence” as part of a crackdown on gay rights.
The organization’s head, Dilya Gafurova, told The Daily Beast that the Sphere Foundation, the legal entity that operated the Russian LGBT Network, is now back up and running. She says it will have to operate unlicensed or the government would refuse to register the group, which was established as a new body on Jan. 1.
“As a consequence of our legal entity’s liquidation, we faced a choice: we could either go our separate ways or buckle up and look for solutions,” Gafurova told The Daily Beast. “As somebody heading Sphere, I really would not have blamed anyone at the time who’d wanted to leave—we already had put up a good fight, had a good run while we could; I mean, we were the ones who supported the LGBT+ movement across Russia for over 11 years, and some members of our team had been public, doing advocacy and awareness-raising work, and therefore were running high personal risks. But very few did leave, our core team is preserving itself.”
Despite the inability to pay salaries for the last three months and having an uncertain future, Dilya and her team have continued their work under the radar since September. In a blow to Putin’s homophobic agenda, the Sphere Foundation is now expanding once again with all of its previous programs and projects intact. The organization has been supporting LGBTQ movements in Russia for many years and it will now include feminist initiatives, too.
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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/sphere-foundation-lgbtq-group-shutdown-by-putin-is-back-from-the-dead
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