The repeal of the ‘gay propaganda law’ in St Petersburg isn’t the good news it seems to be, says Rob Buchanan.

I was shocked and cautiously optimistic when I heard that St. Petersburg in Russia has overturned the fascist so-called ‘gay propaganda’ laws. St. Petersburg has long been known as the most cosmopolitan and cultural city in Russia, yet it was the first place to adopt this hateful homophobic law. It also holds the dubious title of the first city in Russia to ban Gay Pride – for the next 100 years.

It’s important to remember that the repeal of this law repeal is not an indication that other cities in the homophobic pseudo empire will follow suit. It also doesn’t guarantee that at grassroots level the blatant homophobic violence and discrimination against St. Petersburg’s queers will be in any way lessened.

Whilst welcome, it’s vital to understand the motivations behind the repeal. Officially it’s due to the law “no longer being necessary”. What’s far more likely is that the move was made to prevent an upcoming, potentially embarrassing legal challenge from the European Court of Human Rights.

The only person in St. Petersburg to be charged under the legislation was Nikolai Alekseev, a lawyer and gay rights activist. He believes the laws were repealed for this reason and that a potential victory against these regional travesties of human rights could cause a domino effect, right up to the federal level.

This means that far from Russia acknowledging the draconian prejudice it’s inflicting on its citizens, it’s possibly just regrouping to reconfigure a law which is harder to challenge, but just as capable of censoring Russia’s LGBT community.

State sanctioned homophobia brutality has affected the lives thousands of LGBT people, and it will take far longer to undo the legal and moral wrongs that continue to be inflicted. Putin remains enthroned in the Kremlin, his henchmen and the Orthodox Church maintain a stranglehold on the media, and the new Cold War against Russia’s gays continues to drag on.