President: Professor Aleksandr Kykharskii
The Association began to work on behalf of gays and lesbians in the summer of 1990. It took nearly a year to gain official recognition for the organization. On October 9, 1991, after a year of court battles, it became the first officially registered homosexual group in the Soviet Union.
After the announcement of the group’s official registration in the Russian newspaper Argumenti i Fakti, they received approximately ten thousand letters of support from international homosexual groups and requests for help from gays and lesbians across Russia. All the letters received by the organization are archived by the region of the correspondent. This facilitates developing contacts between homosexuals in regions where no apparent homosexual community exists and same-sex relationships are more difficult to develop. A number of threats were made against the members of the groups initially, but no serious attacks were ever made.
The activities of the group include not only human rights casework, but also designing social support programs and organizing cultural events for the homosexual community. Since the repeal of the anti-sodomy law in 1994, the main focus of the group’s work has turned toward eradicating the extreme and often violent problem of homophobia in Russia. The group has received a significant amount of press coverage in newspapers and on radio and television. The group sees public education on the nature of homosexuality as a key element in their work, especially given the lack of exposure most of the population has had to the homosexual community.
The NIS Third Sector Organization section is based on information found in the print edition of "The Post-Soviet Handbook." For more information on the Handbook and instructions on how to order, see our
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