Is This Our Future?

All around the world, right-wing conservatives are attacking us—the LGBTQ+ community! We see it everywhere, from Hungary under Viktor Orbán to right-wing movements globally.

Russian LGBT Network shuts down after ‘extremism’ ruling makes its work ‘impossible’

Pink News

by Jack Wetherill

August 19, 2026

The Russian LGBT Network has announced it is shutting down after a St Petersburg court designated the group an “extremist” organisation, saying the ruling makes public operations too risky for staff, supporters and people seeking help. The group confirmed the decision in a statement on Telegram.

A St Petersburg court in April declared the Russian LGBT Network “extremist” following a lawsuit by Russia’s Justice Ministry. The Russian LGBT Network said the label makes its previous public format of work impossible because “any connection to the organisation may create additional risks for the people we seek to support and protect”.

In a statement posted to its Facebook page statement, the organisation said: “For many years, Russian LGBT Network brought together initiatives and activists and supported queer people across the country,” adding that its “extremist” status had made continuing in the same way “impossible”.

Being LGBTQ+ is just the hook for conservatives. The real worry the right wing has for us is hidden right there in the title: "Russian LGBT Network," but more specifically, the word "Network." We are organized. And that is what they fear. Right-wing authoritarian and nationalist regimes also target independent civil rights networks and labor unions because they represent independent collective power.

Funding by corporations has been cut back out of fear that political retaliation could follow corporate DEI support. In some states, funding for Pride centers has been slashed by city governments. Pride celebrations, once seen as markers of civic prestige that brought business to local retail establishments are now shunned out of fear that they might provoke political wrath.

Despots fear organizations that unite people. They want to keep people off-balance and prevent them from assembling. They fear movements not just because of what they might do, but because they are organized.

Trump and authoritarianism thrive in isolation. There is a reason for all this DEI stuff, it keeps groups battling one another and keeps them from the real problems like the growing national debt. When a community builds a network, whether it's on a factory floor, LGBTQ+ centers, in a grassroots advocacy group, or around a shared identity, that is a threat to their power.