• 18/01/2023
• By wizewebsite
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The marriage of gays and lesbians celebrated its 20th anniversary.In the world, LGBT is sometimes a life<

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In December 2000, a law was passed by the Dutch parliament, which became one of the important milestones in the history of the LGBT+ community. It started paying on the first of April and a new world opened up for LGBT+ people. According to official information on the website of the Dutch government, over 15,000 homosexual couples have married since then.

Dutch legislation allowed them to enter into a same-sex marriage and adopt a child. The Benelux country has not become a lonely island of hope for LGBT communities in the case of same-sex marriage. The Dutch decision was gradually followed by another 29 states and territories.

It was a big step forward for queer people. Boris Dittrich, the first member of the Dutch parliament to speak openly about his homosexuality, came up with the bill.

In the campaign to equalize these acts, Dittrich and two other MPs from other political parties included figures from across Dutch society – community members from ordinary citizens, their loved ones, academics, artists, athletes, businessmen and lawyers.

"People told me that the Netherlands would be the first and last country to legalize same-sex unions, that the world would not follow," Henk Krol, one of a trio of lawmakers who fought for the proposal, told Reuters. In the end, Great Britain, the USA, the Republic of South Africa or Mexico and Australia were finally inspired by the Netherlands.

More than ever. Almost 6% of Americans consider themselves members of the LGBT community

Despite the counter-campaign, which came mainly from religious circles, in the end, thanks to the liberal party Democrats 66, the issue of equalizing adoption and marriage for gays and lesbians was included in the negotiations for a new government coalition. This paved the way for the passage of key legislation.

Just after midnight on the first of April, the mayor of Amsterdam married four couples - Gert Kasteel and Dolf Pasker were among them. "It's nicer to tell people that 'this is my husband, my man.' It helped me accept myself," Pasker admitted to Reuters.

“I am very proud that the opportunity is here,” said his husband Kasteel. "And that we could play our small part in it. We wrote history," added Pasker.

Death penalty for homosexuality

Although some states, following the example of the Netherlands, have moved LGBT+ communities a few steps further, there are still places in 2021 where the approach to queer people is more reminiscent of the Middle Ages.

Exhibiting homosexuality is punishable by life under local law in Iran, Yemen, Nigeria, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates, Brunei and Afghanistan. In some of them, although the death penalty is written into the legislation, there is no information that it would eventually take place.

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Even other places around the world are at least hostile towards queer people. There is no need to go far beyond the Czech borders - dozens of municipalities and districts in Poland have declared themselves "zones without LGBT ideology".

A way to put pressure on the LBGT+ community

Two years ago, Russia was moved by "black lists", which included the names of dozens of members of the LGBT community, including their personal data. On a website called Pila, the name of Jelena Grigorjevová, an LGBT+ activist who was subsequently brutally murdered, appeared.

Hunt for LGBT in Russia. People feel like a walking target and the police do nothing, a Russian activist told Seznam

Eight years ago, the Russian State Duma approved a law against LGBT propaganda. An ordinance there that prohibits the dissemination of information related to homosexuality, public speech or reporting to the LGBT+ community. Among other things, this also enabled the persecution of activists, since 2013, according to some sources, the number of attacks on this minority has also increased.

“The situation in Russia is complex in terms of the rights of LGBT+ people. The concept of this law is very abstract, but in practice it shows that through the law there is a way for the authorities to put pressure on the queer community," Tim Bestsvet, representative of the Russian LGBT Network, told Seznam Zpravám.

Right after the legislation was passed, the level of homophobia in Russia began to rise. "In general, according to the surveys, 56 percent of the respondents are homophobic. In Chechnya, for example, the situation is much more complicated. We know that the police there seek out, harass and torture queer people. There is also talk of murders. While being a member of the LGBT+ community in Russian regions is dangerous, in Chechnya it is a death sentence," Bestsvet said.

“You can't be openly queer in Chechnya”

Chechnya, an autonomous territory of Russia, is indeed openly violent towards LGBT+ people. In recent years, there have been several raids against the queer community - at the end of 2018, the authorities arrested around 40 of its members, according to the Russian LGBT Network. "You can't be openly queer in Chechnya, they violate human rights there. This also happens because of the impunity that prevails there - no one investigates murders, tortures or disappearances," noted Bestsvet.

The rest of Russia and the world learned about the persecution of LGBT+ people in predominantly Muslim Chechnya thanks to reports from the Russian Novaya Gazeta four years ago. They informed about the existence of special, secret camps where violence against gays takes place. "The situation is getting worse every year. Torture is becoming more and more cruel, information is harder to come by. The police in Chechnya intimidate victims, threaten them and eventually force them to give up their lawyers. It also puts pressure on their family members," the activist described.

“Russia does not investigate cases of violations of LGBT+ rights in Chechnya. We are now fighting for access to justice," Tim Bestsvet summarized for Seznam Zpravy.

Two months ago, the British BBC reported that the Russian authorities had returned two Chechen gay men, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isayev, who had fled to Russia, back to their homeland. According to the Russian LGBT Network, the men's lives are now in serious danger. The organization helped them escape last year, both men were tortured by the Chechen authorities.

While only piecemeal but terrible information comes out of Chechnya about the violation of the rights of the LGBT+ community, the leader of the autonomous republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, rejects the persecution of gays. After all, his denial reaches wider dimensions - he also denies that gays even exist in Chechnya.