Compass Gender: Lukashenko and the LGBTQ+ Community—What Comes Next?
Protestors march in Minsk in response to Lukashenko’s disputed landslide victory (Wikimedia Commons)
Amid protests and calls for democracy, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s sixth inauguration ceremony took place on September 23. Lukashenko has led Belarus for the past 26 years, during which time LGBTQ+ rights have remained some of the most limited in Europe. The Belarusian government arrested political opponents of Lukashenko’s as well as peaceful demonstrators across the country after a disputed landslide win for Lukashenko in August’s presidential election. In what could be a watershed moment for the post-Soviet state, LGBTQ+ Belarusians are seizing the opportunity to demand political rights and acknowledgment.
In late September, LGBTQ+ activist Vika Biran was arrested during an anti-government protest in Minsk. Biran has been a major face of Belarusian activism since she was found guilty of violating mass protest laws in the summer of 2018. Her so-called mass protest consisted of her posing for photos alone in front of three government buildings and holding a small piece of paper with the words “YOU are fake” in Russian. Now, she has been arrested on similar charges, provoking outrage from allies around the world. Biran flew to Minsk after Lukashenko’s reelection to join fellow protestors crying for democracy and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.
Lukashenko’s re-election is not simply a barrier for progress for the LGBTQ+ community: the few rights afforded to Belarusian LGBTQ+ people could be stripped away. In February, officials announced that they were considering raising the age of consent for homosexual individuals in the country, which would make any sexual activity between two people of the same gender illegal under the age of 18. Dzmitry Pinevich, the Deputy Health Minister of Belarus, signed a letter outlining the possibility and has spoken generally of “proposed amendments to the criminal and administrative codes,” according to Radio Free Europe, who obtained this letter in early February.
Currently, the age of consent for any sexual activity in Belarus is 16, regardless of sexual orientation. While homosexuality itself was decriminalized in Belarus in 1994, the country is still rife with anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, and same-sex marriage remains illegal. In 2016, Belarus led a campaign against a UN-created plan to include considerations of LGBTQ+ communities in the UN’s urban strategy. This hostility towards LGBTQ+ rights is largely influenced by the powerful presence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus—68 percent of Belarusians follow the teachings of the Church, according to the official website of the Republic of Belarus. In 2018, the UK embassy in Minsk flew a rainbow flag in celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia. Belarus’s interior ministry responded by calling LGBTQ+ relationships “fake” and emphasized the importance of “traditional family values” in Belarusian culture.
Lukashenko’s government has suppressed progress for the LGBTQ+ community by claiming that homophobia and discrimination based on sexual orientation do not exist in Belarus. Members of the LGBTQ+ community tried in 2013 to register a public association for LGBTQ+ rights but were denied by the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court. Protestors today must combat their own culture of deep-rooted homophobia—and a government whose suppression of their identities is hidden behind claims of an equally-protective constitution.
Whether Lukashenko’s reelection will stand is still unclear, but LGBTQ+ Belarusians will face significant challenges regardless of the outcome of the demonstrations. While Lukashenko has had a hand in escalating homophobic sentiment over the past two decades of his presidency, the Church’s influence and the general opinion of the public have long looked unfavorably upon any deviation from heterosexuality. Andrei Zavalei, a queer activist in Belarus, explained in a Politico op ed why he has hesitated to bring the struggle for gay rights into the ongoing anti-government demonstrations: “We didn’t bring our raindow flags to the protests. For the government, it could be used as propaganda to claim that the whole protest is organized by the West, which is against our ‘traditional family values.’ But most of all, we knew that if we did, many of our fellow protestors would not be very friendly.” He understands that Lukashenko’s removal from power would not solve the issue of homophobia in Belarus, tweeting in August, “After Lukashenko’s regime is over, #LGBTQI people will still face hatred and violence. We’re fighting for democracy and human rights in #belarus2020.”
While none of Lukashenko’s political adversaries in the latest election will be able to erase the long history of violence and stigma directed towards Belarus’s LGBTQ+ community, they could begin the process of legally accepting those whose voices have been silenced because of whom they love.