The Iron Curtain may have been lifted with the fall of the Soviet Union in the early

1990s, but in at least one area the great divide between East and West is alive and well. Europe

today tends to be hailed as very liberal and forward-thinking, especially in comparison with its

overseas ally the United States. In a 2014 Pew Research Poll, Europe was found to be more

accepting of every activity polled, including divorce, alcohol use, abortion, and homosexuality.

Nonetheless, behind Europes superficial veil of unilateral equality lies a much more divided

region, where Central and Eastern European nations fail to uphold the rights of their LGBT

citizens to the same standard as their Western neighbors.

Perhaps the most egregious violator of LGBT rights is Russia. Homophobia in Russia has

been institutionalized since 1934 in the USSR, when homosexual men, and to a lesser extent

women, were institutionalized or sent to labor camps for their sexual deviancy. However, even

after the demise of the communist regime, Russian attitudes towards same-sex activity did not

improve, and perhaps worsened. Today, the most infamous example of Russias belligerent

opposition to homosexuality is the law banning propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations,

which passed unanimously in Russias parliament and enjoyed a 90% approval rating among the

Russian population. The law has banned or age-restricted many Western films, video games, and

media thought to promote sexual deviancy to youth. LGBT individuals and activists are at

immense risk of being verbally abused or even attacked, as frequently occurs during gay rights

protests in major cities; the LGBT community does not enjoy special protection in anti-

discrimination and hate crime laws. Public opposition to gay rights is strong, and growing. In

2005, 59% of Russians were opposed to gay marriage; by 2015, that figure had grown to 80%.

This is particularly surprising, considering that Russia is one of the least religious countries, in

contrast to the devout nature of many of its Eastern European neighbors.

 Other countries in the East are also very opposed to equal rights for the LGBT

community. Many countries restrict the definition of marriage to being between one man and one

woman, some constitutionally and some through public referenda. The Constitution of Hungary,

for example, defines marriage as the conjugal union of a man and a woman. In nations such as

Slovenia and Croatia, public referenda have been held to decide the issue, with majorities voting

in favor of maintaining the traditional one-man-one-woman union by law. Most countries in

Eastern Europe grant very few legal amenities to the community. Countless countries from the

Baltic to the Balkans and as far east as the Caucasus fail to uphold the rights of their sexual

minorities, from barring even civil unions or registered cohabitations, to restricting adoption

rights, military service, and legal sex changes. Such intolerance on the part of governments

results in fearfulness in sparse gay communities within these countries. For instance, in the 2011

Latvian census, only 24 same-sex households were identified in a country of almost 3 million.

These restrictions can be found in deeply, religious countries such as Poland with strong church

resistance, or less devout nations like Bulgaria still clinging onto traditional ideas.

Nonetheless, the movement for gay rights even in these repressive European nations is

growing. For example, in Romania, a country where in 2003 40% of residents believed

homosexuals should not be allowed to live in Romania, the population has made significant

progress of acceptance of LGBT rights, with social attitudes liberalizing significantly since the

last law against homosexuality was repealed in 2001. In Latvia in 2014, the Minister for Foreign

Affairs Edgars Rinkvis came out as gay on Twitter, and his public support for LGBT issues

prompted then-Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma to express consideration for registered

partnerships. The 2015 EuroPride event in Riga brought out over 5,000 equal rights protesters,

much more than the anticipated number, and brought attention to the secretive, persecuted gay
community in Latvias capital. Plenty of other countries have experienced brief moments of

flirting with Western liberal ideas. Certainly, these can be dismissed as isolated, one-off

incidents, and it should not be used to portray Eastern Europe as the open-minded, free place we

would hope it to be, but nonetheless represent a marked shift in public attitude towards the taboo

topics of sex and gender. And perhaps, as ties between Western and Eastern Europe grow even

stronger, the East will realize once and for all that Soviet occupation is no more, and the LGBT

community will be embraced in open arms and inaugurated as fellow countrymen and human

beings.