LGBT Rights Group Challenges St. Petersburg "Propaganda" Law

The law banning so-called gay “propaganda” in the city of St. Petersburg has been challenged in the city’s court. The St. Petersburg-based LGBT advocacy group Coming Out says it filed a challenge to the law Monday on constitutional grounds.

The challenge sites the vagueness of the terms “propaganda,” “bisexualsm,” “transgenderism,” and “traditional and nontraditional family relationships.” By not defining these terms, it opens up the law to extraordinarily broad interpretation, they argue. So broad in fact, that the organization points out that technically even mentioning the existence of homosexuality could result in an up to $16,000 fine for individuals.

In a statement issued by the group, it also argues that while the law aims to protect children from homosexual “propaganda,” it actually opens many children up to increased social intolerance, teaches a lesson of inequality, and promotes hatred of difference.

Coming Out has called for a “Week Against Homophobia” in the city. Challenging the new law is the first step in the week-long campaign. “There is nothing immoral in the information that there are different sexual orientations and different families,” said Mikhail Belodedov, coordinator of the Week Against Homophobia. “That is why we don't mean to cut our activities in any way. We are not going to put up with the laws that are in contradiction to the knowledge of modern science and offend hundreds of thousands of St. Petersburg citizens.”