Officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service, or the FSB, are reportedly asking people going into Russia whether they are ‘affiliated with the LGBTQ+ community’ or have ‘plans to change gender’.
(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)] The officials, members of Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, are creating the list using police records of LGBTQ+ people arrested in recent raids.
(AP Photo, File)] Citing ministry insiders, people making the watch list include the dozens of LGBTQ+ club-goers and venue owners detained in recent months under Russia’s ‘gay propaganda’ ban.
Trans people who have since fled from Russia have had the doors of their old homes knocked by officers, added activist Yael Demedetskaya.
‘In February 2024, a man from Vladivostok came to us, he is a trans man and as soon as he and his wife crossed the [American] border, a local police officer came to his home,’ Demedetskaya said.
