It was a dark weekend for Russian LGBTs as President Vladimir Putin signed into law the federal so-called gay propaganda bill on June 29.
The Kremlin officially announced the news of the law, which immediately criminalized homosexuality in Russia again, June 30.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russian in 1993.
The bill was unanimously passed by the lower house of the State Duma June 11 and the upper house, the Federal Council, June 26.
The Federal Council also unanimously approved a bill amending the nation's family code banning foreign same-sex couples from adopting Russian children. The bill was already adopted by the State Duma.
Russian LGBTs and organizations supporting them will face steep fines and sentences. Individuals could be fined up to $152, organizations face an estimated $1,500, and companies could shell out up to $15,000 for general propaganda or mentioning LGBTs.
Fines increase for mentioning LGBTs or "non-traditional sex relations" in media outlets and on the Internet. Violators could be fined $3,000 for individuals or 90-day suspension of activities.
Foreigners who violate the ban will be fined and arrested up to 15 days and deported.
More than half of Russians support banning homosexuality and imposing criminal liability, according to a recent poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Center.
Human rights and Russian LGBT activists anticipated the law coming into effect by the end of June.
Speaking in Finland last week, Putin claimed that Russian LGBTs weren't discriminated against and urged the West to stay out of the country's business.
"Please do not interfere with our laws," he said, claiming that LGBT Russians are "full-fledged members of our society."
"This law does not discriminate," said Putin, reiterating that the "gay propaganda" law is to protect children.
At the same time Russian LGBT activists in St. Petersburg were brutally attacked by anti-gay protesters and police during a sanctioned Pride event on June 29.
An estimated 60 gay rights activists were arrested and detained by police after they were attacked by a crowd of about 200 anti-gay protesters as they gathered in Field of Mars in the center of the city. An estimated eight anti-gay demonstrators were arrested and detained by authorities, according to media reports.
St. Petersburg police arrested five same-sex couples who attempted to register for marriage licenses the same day.
U.S. anti-gay groups lauded Putin for standing up to U.S. and European pressures to accept LGBT individuals.
"You admire some of the things they're doing in Russia against propaganda," Austin Ruse, president of the U.S.-based Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, told the Associated Press. "On the other hand, you know it would be impossible to do that here."
Human rights experts condemned Russian authorities' actions.
"The admiration of some American conservatives for the repressive Russian policies regarding gay rights are quite simply the words of snake-oil salesmen," Roberta Sklar, spokeswoman of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, told the AP.
Secretary of State John Kerry disapproved of American conservatives' support of Putin and recent anti-homosexuality propaganda laws throughout Eastern Europe that are targeting LGBT protesters.
"We just have to keep standing up for tolerance and for diversity," Kerry said at a State Department Pride event last month.
Russian LGBTs living abroad marched with LGBT Russians virtually in Moscow thanks to a program that followed the New York Pride parade, which also hosted its first LGBT Russian float on June 30.
Obama stands up for LGBT Africans
President Barack Obama called upon African leaders to extend rights to their LGBT citizens during a press conference with Senegalese President Macky Sall at the grand presidential palace June 27.
Applauding the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 that same day (June 26 in the U.S.), Obama said the court's decision marked a "proud day for America."
Pointing to the U.S., Obama said, "When it comes to how the state treats people, how the law treats people, I believe that everybody has to be treated equally."
Sall immediately pushed back on Obama, assuring that Senegal is "very tolerant," but that the West African nation wasn't ready to decriminalize homosexuality and that countries need to make their own decisions on complex issues in their own time, reported the AP.
Obama responded to Sall, "I want the African people just to hear what I believe. People should be treated equally. That's a principle that I think applies universally."
Obama's trip, which concluded earlier this week, included stops in South Africa and Tanzania.
In spite of Sall's statements that Senegal is tolerant of LGBT individuals, arrests and imprisonment continues to happen.
Nearly 100 percent of Senegalese oppose the acceptance of homosexuality, according to a recent survey. The government backed the citizens' anti-gay sentiment last year when it argued against a ban on anti-gay discrimination at the U.N. Human Rights Council, according to media reports.
Last week, Amnesty International cited 38 African countries that criminalize homosexuality and violence against LGBT individuals.
Got international LGBT news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at 00+1-415-221-3541, Skype: heather.cassell, or [email protected].