Grade 9 School Girl charged under Russian anti-gay propaganda ban

Russian Juvenile Commission Decision
(Personal Information Redacted)

Special to LGBTQ Nation | By Elena Klimova | BRYANSK, Russia -- A Russian Juvenile Commission in the city of Bryansk has disciplined a 14-year-old schoolgirl accused of engaging in "propaganda" of nontraditional sexual relations among minors by publicly admitting her homosexual identity in front of her school mates. 

The decision was reached by the juvenile commission on January 16th. The 9th grade student, whose identity is being withheld to protect her privacy, was subject to an investigation opened on November 13, 2013, at the request of school officials.

The schoolgirl had contacted this writer directly via the “Children 404″ project webpage on the Russian social networking site Vkontakte and provided the court documents and related her story last week.

According to the commission's documents, investigators were assigned "to do preventive work in [at the girl's school], where it was found that the student systematically promotes nontraditional sexual relations among minors by openly admitting her sexual orientation and distributing information aimed at forming a distorted picture of juvenile social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional sexual relations."

Although the infamous "anti-gay" article 6.21 of Russia's administrative code of violations could not be applied against the minor, the commission's findings build upon the logic of the federal law banning the "propaganda" of nontraditional sexual relations to minors. The juvenile commission was careful enough to find the girl not guilty of violating any law, thereby refusing the request to start legal proceedings against the girl, who was also reportedly a victim of a violent attack due to her sexual orientation.

While keeping the matter in the juvenile court, the commission determined that her actions constituted a juvenile offense worthy of an official "warning" and a placement on the commission's watch list. The warning could be used against the student in future proceedings, and the authorities have yet to communicate to the girl what she must do to satisfy the probation-like terms of the punishment.