Russia police believe LGBTI people are not classified as a social group, so technically can’t experience hate speech.

It all started when Anna Plyusnina – lawyer for the LGBT Resource Center – filed a report about hateful comments directed at LGBTI people online.

Plyusnina noticed anti-gay comments on local news sites that condoned insults, violence and conversion therapy against LGBTI people.

The comments were under articles about the opening of a resource centre for LGBTI people in Yekaterinburg. As well as a story about gay people banned from a retail store.

‘There are no signs of violations’

So she flagged the comments by writing to the Investigative Committee of Russia.

They then redirected the report to the Center for Combating Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region.

After reviewing the comments, the Sverdlovsk authorities said the threats were ‘not addressed to any group of people on the grounds of the principles of racial, religious, social identity’.

The Russia police added: ‘There are no signs of violations, including extremist intentions.’

But Plyusnina argued the unwillingness of the police to engage in offensive LGBTI comments is illegal.

She cited a ruling of the Constitutional Court of Russia on 23 September, 2014.

The ruling at the time said: ‘The state is called upon to take measures aimed at excluding possible infringements of the rights and legitimate interests of individuals on the motive of their sexual orientation, and provide effective opportunities for the protection and restoration of their violated rights on the basis of the principle of equality of all before the law enshrined in Article 19 (Part 1) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and court.’

Plyusnina told Russian news site znak she did not want to prosecute the people leaving the comments. She just wanted the offensive comments deleted.

See also:

‘We’ll send you to the gulag’: UK LGBTI student group tells intersex advocate

Canada ‘refuses lesbian citizenship because her partner’s sister dumped billionaire for k.d. lang’

Finally, world’s major countries pushing Russia to action on Chechnya’s gay purge