Visualizing the Emergence of Political Homophobia: Anti-LGBTQ+ and Anti-Ukrainian Sentiment in Russian Public Opinion

Abstract

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, escalating a conflict that began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. Before the annexation, Russia’s anti-gay propaganda legislation set a precedent for homophobic laws worldwide. Over the past decade, Russia implemented numerous anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including the recent ban on gender reassignment. Through state-controlled media, Russian leadership portrayed both of these efforts as defending the nation against Western influence. So, I ask: Did it work? In this visualization, we see that before the introduction of anti-gay propaganda legislation and the Ukrainian conflict, public opinion data showed no statistically significant correlation between attitudes on the two issues. However, following these events, a positive association emerged between support for anti-gay views and anti-Ukrainian sentiment. These findings shed light on the growth of political homophobia within the Russian context, where gender and sexuality issues have become intertwined with a national security narrative.