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CRACKDOWN

Moscow Police Raid Gay Bars After Court Labels LGBTQ Movement ‘Extremist’

Other LGBTQ sites were forced to close under the new ruling.

Gay rights activists wave flags from a car during a protest outside the Mayor's office in Moscow.

Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

By Mark Alfred

Russian authorities in Moscow raided gay bars and clubs Friday night after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the LGBTQ movement is “extremist,” the Associated Press reports. Police checked the documents of patrons and took their photos, per eyewitnesses. Other LGBTQ sites were forced to close under the new ruling, part of Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on same-sex marriage. The Russian president has long sought to ban public endorsement of the LGBTQ movement, wielding his power to ban what he characterized as “gay propaganda” and decrying what he called the West’s “degrading” influence.

Read it at Associated Press

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