Almost unanimously against visibility
Inside, almost the entire Duma raised its hand; outside, kissing couples were attacked and taken away.
On 25 January 2013, the Russian State Duma voted at first reading on a law that would ban "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" to minors. The result was almost unanimous: three hundred and eighty-eight members said yes, a single one voted against, one abstained.
Outside the parliament building in Moscow, meanwhile, a very different scene was playing out. Around twenty activists had gathered for a "kiss-in". They kissed demonstratively in front of the cameras. Orthodox counter-demonstrators pelted them with eggs and green antiseptic, prayed loudly and lashed out. The police intervened, but mainly took away the protesters. None of the attackers was arrested.
The bill did not come out of nowhere. Several regions, including St Petersburg, already had similar bans. Now the rule was to apply across the country, with fines for individuals, officials and companies. The text left open what exactly counted as "propaganda". That was precisely what made it so dangerous.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued urgent warnings. The law violated the freedom of expression of everyone in Russia and created a climate in which violence against queer people would seem acceptable. The warning went unheeded. In June 2013, the bill finally passed the Duma, and shortly afterwards President Vladimir Putin signed it.
It did not stop there. In 2022 the ban was extended to adults, and a year later the Supreme Court declared the "international LGBT movement" an extremist organisation. The model also caught on outside Russia, for example in Hungary and Bulgaria.
At the beginning of this development are the images from that January: kissing couples, spattered with green, led away by the police, while inside almost the entire parliament raised its hand.