Russia asks Supreme Court to declare the LGBT movement "extremist"

The Russian Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to outlaw the LGBT "international public movement," due to "signs and manifestations of extremist nature."

This was announced by the ministry in a statement issued on Friday. According to The Moscow Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the issue at a cultural forum in St. Petersburg. "LGBT people are part of society and have the right to win cultural contests," the president reportedly said, without going into details.

Last December, Putin expanded the law against "LGBT propaganda," which was passed over a decade ago, to include Russians of all ages, not just minors. The rule included expressions that "promoted homosexuality," as Reuters reported at the time, in public, on the internet, in films and also in advertisements.

The Supreme Court set a hearing for the morning of November 30.