LGBT people in Russia encounter prejudice and discrimination from many quarters – the government, society, and now increasingly, from their own health service. 

New proposals from the Russian Ministry of Health, which were published last week on an official Government website, would treat gay people alongside paedophiles in specialist clinics. The health professionals – known as ‘sexologists’ in the draft document – would treat paedophiles who had been referred to the clinic by law enforcement. Alongside them would be those with “gender identity disorders” and "disorders of sexual preference”: meaning transgender people, or people who were gay. 

The clinic would also carry out “preventative work on the formation of sexuality in children and teens”, which sounds disturbingly like anti-gay education. Trying to “cure” people of homosexuality has been widely dismissed by science and health professionals globally, and linked to suicide and depression. 

To aid the “sexologists” in their efforts to “cure” gay people and prevent teenagers from coming out, the Ministry of Health also suggests a list of items to be held in each clinic. The “standard sexological equipment cabinet” includes the frankly terrifying-sounding “pelvic compass” and “neurological hammer”, alongside “dildos in different sizes” and “apparatus for vibratory stimulation”. Bizarrely, the Russian health officials specificy that at least one dildo needs to be held in each location, although quite how a dildo will stop people from being gay I’m not sure.

Although only paedophiles will be forced to receive treatment at the centre, not gay people, nonetheless the fact that the authorities view homosexuality as comparable to paedophilia is a depressing reminder of the plight of LGBT people in Russia today.

(H/T Buzzfeed)