Belarusian LGBT+ community faces stigmatization – poll

July 27, BPN. The LGBT+ community in Belarus faces stigmas and stereotypes, according to an It’s Okay poll.

The group surveyed 435 Belarusians in the country and abroad on the Internet.

Belarusians tend to believe that the community aims to impose its values on them, It’s Okay said. They view gay prides as propaganda, not an instrument to call out discrimination and inequality.

Volha Šparaha, an expert on gender, said that only state values can be promoted in today’s Belarus, where people are guided by the principle “do not stand out.”

Many of those polled said everyone, not just gay people, are under pressure. But this means that vulnerable groups face even greater challenges than the others, said the International Committee for Investigation of Torture in Belarus.

Alaksandar Łukašenka, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for 29 years, calls homosexual men “perverts” and once famously said: “Better to be a dictator than gay.”