Homophobia in Russia has significantly worsened in the last decade, according to a new survey by state-run pollster. The proportion of respondents who consider LGBTI people dangerous and said they should be ‘isolated from society’ grew from 12% in 2004 to 20%.

Some 22% said they didn’t care about other people’s sexual orientation – compared with 24% in 2004. Nearly half of all respondents (41%) said the authorities should persecute people with ‘untraditional sexual preferences’ in order to ‘exterminate the phenomenon,’ while only 12% agreed that the government should protect LGBTI people from discrimination.

‘It’s interesting that we are swimming against the current, strengthening, despite global trends, intolerance toward homosexual relationships. This indicator might serve as a parameter of national identification,’ said Alexei Firsov, the communications director. Read More