Expert-Grup

PSYOPS: When Homophobia Becomes Politics. From Hatred of LGBTI People to Aversion to the European Union: Moscow's Psychological Operation to Derail Moldova's European Course

AlteleIntegrare europeanăTuesday, 12 March 20243348 views
Project:
Building Strategic Communication to Counter Russian Disinformation in Moldova

Automatically translated summary. The full text is available in Romanian.

An investigation published by Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup” examines how hate speech against LGBTI people has become a psychological operation by Moscow, used by the Kremlin, the Russian Orthodox Church and pro-Russian parties to undermine the European course of the Republic of Moldova.

A 2022 study by the Partnership for Development Centre found LGBTI people to be the least tolerated group in Moldova, scoring 5.7 on the Bogardus social distance scale. Another study shows that almost 70% of Moldovans would not accept LGBTI neighbours. Western values are increasingly reduced by Kremlin propaganda to minority sexual rights, a line echoed by Patriarch Kirill, Russian anti-LGBTI laws (2013, 2022) and Transnistria's 2019 legislation.

In Moldova, pro-Russian parties (PSRM, PCRM, Renaștere) and politicians such as Ion Ceban and Ion Chicu use the theme in elections. Examples include the false “Parent 1 / Parent 2” story, the claimed “LGBT propaganda in schools”, Alexandr Nesterovschi's bill and distorted reactions to the ECHR ruling. Genderdoc-M's Angelica Frolov says homophobia is used as a political strategy. Moldova scores 38% in ILGA-Europe's ranking, up 14 positions in 2023.

View the original in Romanian