Resources
The Russian LGBT Network is a Russia-based interregional social movement that promotes equal rights and respect for human dignity regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. The team records data on human rights violations, litigates hate crimes, and advocates for a better national and international recognition of LGBT+ rights. The Network unites and develops regional initiative groups and organizations and provides comprehensive support for LGBT+ people across Russia. Founded in 2006, it remains the most prominent LGBT+ organization in Russia. The Network's Rapid Response program, which has existed since 2014, is designed to support victims of the hate crimes and LGBT+ activists who suffer because of their activism. Rapid Response has enabled the Network to craft and lead the emergency response to the anti-LGBT+ crackdown in Chechnya since 2017. The Network assists victims of abductions, tortures, and other forms of violence, including forced psychiatric treatment against lesbian and bisexual women.
The Moscow Community Center has provided psychological care, legal services, and shelter for victims of the anti-gay pogrom in Chechnya since 2017. In addition to the care and services they provide to those escaping persecution in the Chechen Republic, the Center provides similar services to LGBTQI people from across Russia who find themselves in a difficult life situation and provides a safe space for the Moscow LGBTQI community overall. Through education and outreach, the Center is committed to bringing together the region's activists to build an LGBTQI movement in Moscow and across Russia and to fight anti-gay discrimination.
The Council for Global Equality (CGE) is a coalition of more than 30 prominent U.S.-based organizations, each standing separately at the intersection of human rights and LGBTI equality in the United States and overseas. This unique collaboration joins the respective expertise and positioning of LGBTI and non-LGBTI human rights advocates; domestic and foreign policy and development specialists; religious voices; and gender and sexual rights and health specialists. Together CGE is a recognized foreign policy organization in Washington and an anchor organization for the LGBTI movement.
Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works world-wide to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. HRW scrupulously investigates abuses, exposes the facts widely, and pressures those with power to respect rights and secure justice. In 2017, HRW was the first human rights organization to confirm that a vicious anti-gay purge was on-going in Chechnya and documented the purge in a detailed research-based report. HRW has been at the forefront of the international effort to stop violence and other abuses against LGBT people in Chechnya.
The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community. The organization has taken a number of actions to draw attention to the persecution and violence against LGBTQ people in Chechnya.
In the spirit of the Underground Railroad, Toronto-based Rainbow Railroad’s mission is to help persecuted LGBTQI individuals get to safety as they seek a safe haven from state-enabled harassment and violence. Rainbow Railroad was founded in 2006 to provide an additional solution to address the global refugee crisis, to which LGBTQI persons are uniquely vulnerable. Rainbow Railroad provides support to LGBTQI individuals — including victims of the anti-gay pogrom in Chechnya — seeking safety with airfare and financial support that facilitates departure, travel, arrival and referral for settlement.
