3.7.2. Societal attitudes and non-state violence

3.7.2. Societal attitudes and non-state violence

According to an April 2025 report by LGBTIQ rights organisation Coming Out and Sphere Foundation, anti-LGBTIQ censorship and self-censorship severely affected queer people’s life in Russia, with most respondents584 reporting political and social pressure that forced them to ‘hide their identity or limit its expression.’585 The report noted that LGBTIQ people in Russia were in a ‘vulnerable financial situation,’ often facing discrimination in job recruitment, workplaces, and educational institutions. Transgender people were reportedly the most financially vulnerable group, being more likely to live below the poverty line, have unstable income, and rely on financial support.586 Additionally, LGBTIQ people faced barriers in accessing healthcare and denial of healthcare, which particularly affected transgender people587 and residents of the North Caucasus.588

In May 2025, a far-right organisation raided a private party, after which guests were taken to a police station and threatened with criminal prosecution.594

a) Conversion therapy

Experts interviewed by EUAA noticed that LGBTIQ people may be subjected to the so-called conversion therapy and psychiatric treatment.595 As noted by a lawyer specialising in LGBTIQ issues, so-called rehabilitation centres operate outside of government control and thousands of people, including LGBTIQ minors, ‘can be at risk of conversion therapy.’ In North Caucasus and in other Muslim regions of Russia, there are specialised Muslim hospitals where ‘religious exorcism’ is used as a form of treatment. In other regions, there are Russian Orthodox rehabilitation centres, which also perform the enforced conversion therapy.596

In March 2024, Current Time reported that at least 12 institutions and private clinics across Moscow, Moscow oblast, Rostov oblast, the North Caucasus, and other regions, were providing conversion therapy, with many patients being sent to these facilities against their will. According to the source, treatments included isolation from the outside world, forced administration of psychotropic drugs, hypnosis, and prayer. A Russian Orthodox rehabilitation centre in Moscow region reportedly isolated LGBTIQ people for at least six months.597

b) Impact on family life

As noted by a lawyer specialising in LGBTIQ issues to EUAA, since 2024, LGBTIQ parents, particularly those in transgender relationships, have faced increasing threats of having their children removed from the family. The expert noted that child protection services often maintain a view that these children are ‘subjected to propaganda’ which serves as a ground to remove the children from the family, with transgender parents, whose gender markers have been changed, being particularly vulnerable. Supportive parents of an LGBTIQ child can be ‘threatened with the loss of parental rights.’598