The LGBT initiative group "Stimul" was established in Moscow in 2015.It is crucial for us to work with the LGBT*-community bearing in mind its needs and current problems. We provide legal and psychological assistance for LGBT people, defend the interests of LGBT people in court, monitor discrimination and human rights violations based on SOGI, provide assistance to LGBT refugees, conduct legal seminars for the LGBT community, implement programs for the development of LGBT activists in Russia.
LGBT+ people in Russia constantly face high levels of discrimination and violence because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. According to an opinion poll organized by the "Levada" Center, 32% of respondents believe that LGBT+ people should be isolated from society, 18% - that they should be executed. According to the monitoring carried out by "Stimul", LGBT+ people face problems at work, in relations with family members, and are harassed and attacked by homophobic citizens.
"Stimul" provides qualified legal aid to the LGBT+-community in the region and advocates for human rights linked with sexual orientation and gender identity. We conduct a full-fledged public investigation into all allegations of crimes and hate speech against LGBT+ individuals. We also provide qualified psychological aid to victims; develop a telephone hotline for remote legal support for victims of hate crimes.
In the long term, by our activities we try to get the following effects: - there are more LGBT+ initiatives in Russia, - the accessibility of legal aid for LGBT+ people is improved, - the quality of the official investigation of crimes against LGBT+ people is enhanced, - the law on the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relations" is repealed, - LGBT-refugees could receive asylum in Russia, - systemic changes have taken place and anti-discrimination legislation has been adopted.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
