The international movement has been declared extremist for “sowing social and religious discord”
File photo: Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, viewed from the Patriarchy Bridge © Getty Images/stephney
Designating LGBT advocacy as extremist is a form of “moral self-defense” of society, a spokesman for the Orthodox Church said on Thursday, supporting the decision of the Russian Supreme Court.
Responding to the request of the Ministry of Justice, the highest court in Russia ruled on Thursday that the “international LGBT public movement” and all its subsidiaries would be declared an extremist organization, practically banning their work.
“We know from the testimony of many Western Christians who adhere to traditional beliefs regarding marriage and family that the activities of LGBT movements are aimed at displacing the Christian idea of marriage and family from the public and the legal sphere,” said Vakhtang Kipshidze, head of public relations at the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Pointing to LGBT advocacy in the West, Kipshidze said that the “logical endpoint of its activities is the destruction of the traditional idea of marriage and family,” which makes it extremist by definition.
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Given that marriage as the union of a man and a woman is a historically Christian concept in Europe, said Kipshidze, undermining it is an attack on Christianity itself.
“This leads to infringing on the rights of believers in countries where the LGBT movement is free to act,” the church spokesman added. “In many Western countries, LGBT cohabitation has been made legally equal to marriage.”
The Moscow Patriarchate spokesman pointed to cases in the West where LGBT groups sued clergy who described same-sex relationships as sinful, practically making quoting the Bible a crime.
“I think if such a movement is given free rein in Russia, it will pursue the same goals as in the West. For us, this is unacceptable,” said Kipshidze.
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Russia banned the promotion of “non-traditional sexual relations,” transgenderism and pedophilia to minors in 2013, and extended the ban to adults last December.
