On June 30, 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law against "gay propaganda".

Since then, positive statements about homosexuality in the presence of minors or via media such as the Internet have been punishable in Russia, and violators face heavy fines.

For fear of persecution, queer – i.e. non-heterosexual – activists left the country in the years that followed, also in the direction of Germany.

Sebastian Eder

Editor in the society department at FAZ.NET.

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In 2015 they found help from the Quarteera association, in which queer Russian-speaking people in Germany have come together since 2011.

This association with around 150 members and based in Berlin now wants to use the experience of 2015 to help queer people who want to flee Ukraine after the Russian invasion.

A call for donations states: "We will do everything in our power to help the LGBTQ* people who feel compelled to leave Ukraine and come to Germany."

Svetlana Shaytanova is Quarteera's spokesperson.

She says: "For many queer families it is very complicated to flee, that's why we want to help." Trans women, for whom the correct gender has not yet been entered in the official papers, are not allowed to leave the country, for example, because they are considered conscripts be valid.

"This also applies if your physical transition has already been completed." Gay men are also currently in an unprotected situation in Ukraine, "so we urgently appeal to politicians that they be taken out of the country if they want that".

"Persecuted, Imprisoned and Killed"

One of Quarteera's goals is to educate about the current situation of queer people in countries of the former Soviet Union.

"That was missing in German society for a long time," says Shaytanova.

The situation for queer people in Belarus is even worse than in Russia, and Ukraine is also being attacked from there.

In Belarus, homosexuals are tortured in prisons and then publicly outed, says Shaytanova.

Special units from Chechnya are also fighting in Ukraine.

"Officially, there are no queer people in Chechnya," says Shaytanova.

"In reality, they are being persecuted there, imprisoned and killed."

The Quarteera association is now in contact with partner associations that receive refugees at the Ukrainian border.

"We still have no contact with queer victims," ​​says Shaytanova.

That is why posters are now to be installed in places where refugees arrive.

"So that queer refugees know that they can come to us." In contrast to 2015, this time they also want to actively help queer people flee their home country.

Quarteera is already in contact with partners in Ukraine.

On Monday, the lesbian and gay association in Germany also drew attention to the fact that queer people in Ukraine are currently in particular danger.

"Numerous organizations from the LGBTIQ* community in Germany have therefore joined forces in the Alliance Queere Nothilfe Ukraine," it said in a statement.

With a petition, they called on the federal government to "do everything in their power to grant protection to endangered people from Ukraine".