Russia’s ‘gay propaganda’ law has led to a huge rise in anti-LGBT attacks

Hate crimes against LGBT people have doubled since Russia created a law banning gay “propaganda”.

The 2013 legislation, which prohibits “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” towards minors, has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights.

The European judges found that the law “reinforced stigma and prejudice and encouraged homophobia”.

(Getty)

The law also bans people from sharing “distorted ideas about the equal social value of traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships”.

It has been widely abused by Vladimir Putin’s government to clamp down on the LGBT rights movement as a whole.

And now the ECHR has been backed up by statistics, with researchers finding that anti-LGBT hate crimes have doubled.

(Getty)

The Centre for Independent Social Research analysed 250 crimes – 200 of which were murders – and concluded that homophobic attacks had surged, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Most victims were gay men.