E-newsletter: LGBTQ+ in Belarus 10-12.2024
CURRENT SITUATION OF BELARUSIAN LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY
Repression, intimidation, and stigmatization of the LGBTQ+ community continued in Belarus until the end of 2024.
According to human rights activists, the Belarusian transgender community continued to face severe harassment in the country.
Thus, the TG-House NGO confirmed that cases of detention of trans persons were directly related to their gender identity. As a legal basis, representatives of the ruling regime mainly used article 19.1 of the Administrative Code (“petty hooliganism”) for subscriptions to “extremist” online resources or article 343 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (“distribution of pornography”) for LGBT content. Thus, the very fact of being transgender was made a reason for persecution, and legal charges were brought to legitimize these actions.
There were registered mass denials of gender transition commissions, disruptions in access to hormone therapy, forced hospitalizations, and humiliating conditions of medical procedures. The repression practices also included threats of deprivation of parental rights, illegal demands for DNA testing, as well as arrests and torture. Quite a few trans people were deprived of the possibility to undergo the legally permitted surgeries, subjected to violence and constant emotional and mental trauma.
The organization TG-House published a number of recommendations for Belarusian trans people on how to survive in the current conditions of relentless repression.
According to the report of the «Legal Initiative» Belarusian human rights organization on the situation of the LGBTQ+ community of Belarus, which was released in November 2024, the concept of «private life» for queer folks in Belarus has become very relative, since the pressure from the regime and the propaganda-prone society penetrates into the most personal spheres of LGBTQ+ people’s life. The fear of discrimination, repression, and violence has become a daily reality for the LGBTQ+ community in the country.
«New» forms of threats have emerged and become «trends». If the detainee is a representative of the LGBTQ+ community, their personal correspondence is interpreted by law enforcement officers as politically dangerous. Thus, a friendly chat with several participants can be perceived as a criminal offense, especially if representatives of the LGBTQ+ community are present in it. It is worth noting that during detentions, searches, and interrogations, LGBTQ+ people are threatened with the initiation of criminal cases under the article on “pedophilia”, as well as with violence in the places of detention, both from law enforcement officers and prospective cellmates.
Minors from the LGBTQ+ community remain a particularly vulnerable group. Teenagers’ problems remain invisible, and support to them is practically non-existent. Isolation, loneliness and fear among adolescents are noticeably stronger than among adults. This increases the risk of self-harm and suicidal thoughts among them. It is worth recalling the recent suicide statistics in Belarus: The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that in the first half of 2024 the number of suicides among minors increased by 50%.
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