E-NEWSLETTER: LGBTQ+ IN BELARUS
Within the period of September – October 2025, the LGBTIQ+ people in Belarus lived in the atmosphere of overwhelming fear and approaching catastrophe of legislatively grounded repressions for the mere fact of being queer.
Belarus is currently one of the least favorable countries for LGBTIQ+ in Europe. It is holding the 44th position on the 2025 ILGA-Europe rating list, preceded by Georgia and followed by Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Russia. The score trend has been dropping consistently since 2019 (15.82% of rights respected in 2019 vs.10.16% of rights respected in 2025).
Not only the regime in power ignores the rights of LGBTIQ+ community
It also actively fights with its mere existence. Apparently, Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s authoritarian regime makes use of discrimination and stigmatization in relation to the LGBTIQ+ people as a tool for strengthening and keeping his unlimited political power in the country.
It should be reminded that as per the Belarus’ Ministry of Culture resolution No. 24, adopted on March 19, 2024, the mere public appearance of a queer person or public support of LGBTIQ+ community and individuals offline or on social media is regarded as an act of ‘pornography’ in Belarus, punishable criminally with a jail term of up to ten years (Article 343 of the Criminal Code of Belarus).
New amendments to the Belarus Law ‘On Protection of Children’ were adopted as the Law #87-3 in the second reading by the Belarusian Parliament on July 12, 2025. They come into force in six months, i.e. on January 12, 2026.
According to the legislative amendments, there was expanded the list of information, which is regarded as harmful to the psychological health and development of a child by adding the information ‘aimed at promoting homosexual relations, sex reassignment, pedophilia, and childlessness.’ This effectively denies youngsters access to information on same-sex relations and sex reassignment and makes their parents, teachers, journalists and others legally liable for ‘exposing’ the children to any information about queerness or for being queer themselves.
The amendments to the law are accompanied by draft Art. 19.16 of the Administrative Code of Belarus that will provide for administrative liability for ‘propaganda of homosexual relations, gender transition, childlessness, and pedophilia.’
Paragraph Q of European Parliament resolution of 22 October 2025 on the situation in Belarus, five years after the fraudulent presidential elections is dedicated to the situation of LGBTQ+ people in Belarus. Among other, it was mentioned there that ‘… the LGBTQ+ community in Belarus continues to face harassment, including arbitrary arrests; … Belarus has conducted further attacks against the LGBTQ+ community; … a new draft law proposes imprisonment for sharing information on LGBTQ+ issues.’
Read full version: E-Newsletter-09-10_2025
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