RUSSIA: St. Petersburg Court Rules That Local LGBT Group Is A Spy Organization

A court in St. Petersburg today ruled that Coming Out, a local Russian LGBT rights group, is a de facto spy organization because it receives funding from outside the country. Via Buzzfeed:

The group is one of hundreds of human rights organizations that has had this label slapped on them or been taken to court by government officials for failing to register voluntarily under a 2012 law that requires NGOs who receive funding from abroad to declare themselves “foreign agents.” The Justice Ministry registered five new groups as foreign agents this week alone. Coming Out had been fighting the designation in court for 16 months. “[Printing] the label ‘foreign agent’ on all the public materials of the organization would be a sign for wider society that the idea of protecting the rights of LGBT people is something ‘foreign,’ and, therefore unnecessary and even harmful,” said the group in a statement on its Facebook page.

The judge's ruling reportedly declares that Coming Out violates the rights of "persons with a traditional sexual orientation." Coming Out plans to appeal the decision.