Den ryska hbtq-rörelsen från glasnost till kriget i Ukraina

Ett civilsamhällesperspektiv på Rysslands misslyckade demokratisering

Abstract

The Russian LGBTQ movement from glasnost to the war in Ukraine – a civil society perspective on Russia’s failed democratization

This essay aims to describe and analyze the movement for gay rights – later LGBTQ rights – in Russia from its inception in the late 1980s until the time of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The study is guided by theoretical concepts from social movement studies, and is based on previous research as well as interviews with activists conducted by the author. The essay outlines a complex trajectory, where the building of a more professional and well-organized movement has occurred alongside increased state repression and stigmatization of LGBTQ activism. While the findings are not directly generalizable to other civil society movements, they allow us to make broader reflections about the dangers of a too-linear view on democratic transition, about the relation between a movement’s visibility and its success, and about how a state’s geopolitical orientation impacts civil society.