The Soviet Union didn’t particularly treat homosexuals any worse than most countries at the time. Sure, it should have done better, but there are limitations to ideology when lessentially your entire ideological base members die in the struggle against the Nazis due to being the first to volunteer.
After the October Revolution of 1917, homosexuality was decriminalised in Soviet Russia with the repeal of the legal code of the Russian Empire, and this decriminalisation was confirmed with new criminal codes in 1922 and 1926. Under Joseph Stalin, the Soviet government reversed course in the late 1920s and promoted harsher policy against LGBTQ rights. In 1933, homosexuality was recriminalised in the Soviet Union, and Article 121, which prohibited male homosexuality, was added to the Soviet penal code in the following year.
If you had actually read anything on the “decriminalization” of homosexuality in Soviet Russia after 1917, you’d know that there was not really any social movement on the side of legalizing homosexuality. The fact that its criminalization was repealed is mostly due to Bolsheviks wanting to repeal essentially all Russian Imperial law.
Homosexuality wasn’t even well-understood at the time, they conflated gender and sexuality, which is why only male homosexuality was criminalized. The Soviet Union, due to it being heir to a very patriarchal society, wanted “stronger men and workers”, and lesbians were seen as a more masculine version of men (which was accepted) whereas gays were seen as “feminized men”, which was seen negatively.
Even then, my point is that after the 40s most of the theorists of socialism were fucking killed at the hands of Nazis, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why social policy didn’t develop sufficiently in the Soviet Union. But even so, the criminalization of homosexuality for the most part wasn’t particularly prosecuted compared to many countries, there’s a difference between something being illegal and something being prosecuted.
All in all: yes, they should have done better, but the material conditions of the moment didn’t really allow for much better.
The Soviet Union didn’t particularly treat homosexuals any worse than most countries at the time. Sure, it should have done better, but there are limitations to ideology when lessentially your entire ideological base members die in the struggle against the Nazis due to being the first to volunteer.
You don’t get to blame this on the Nazis.
Again, not any worse than any other country of the time.
Actually it is worse because they were better and then actively decided to make things worse.
If you had actually read anything on the “decriminalization” of homosexuality in Soviet Russia after 1917, you’d know that there was not really any social movement on the side of legalizing homosexuality. The fact that its criminalization was repealed is mostly due to Bolsheviks wanting to repeal essentially all Russian Imperial law.
Homosexuality wasn’t even well-understood at the time, they conflated gender and sexuality, which is why only male homosexuality was criminalized. The Soviet Union, due to it being heir to a very patriarchal society, wanted “stronger men and workers”, and lesbians were seen as a more masculine version of men (which was accepted) whereas gays were seen as “feminized men”, which was seen negatively.
Even then, my point is that after the 40s most of the theorists of socialism were fucking killed at the hands of Nazis, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why social policy didn’t develop sufficiently in the Soviet Union. But even so, the criminalization of homosexuality for the most part wasn’t particularly prosecuted compared to many countries, there’s a difference between something being illegal and something being prosecuted.
All in all: yes, they should have done better, but the material conditions of the moment didn’t really allow for much better.