In the wake of the August 2020 elections, the Belarusian government has harshly suppressed protests, many led by women, through excessive force and arbitrary detentions. Since 2020, the space for civil society has drastically diminished. Throughout 2021, government forces forcibly shut down, threatened, and monitored women’s rights organisations, compelling many human rights defenders to either flee the country or cease their activities. The dissolution of most civil society organisations and the crackdown on women human rights defenders has left domestic violence victims without access to essential victim-centred services and severely weakened support networks for LGBTIQ+ individuals. New legal amendments have further restricted freedoms, drawing international condemnation for human rights violations. Despite this, the Belarusian government continues its pattern of discrimination, with heightened hate speech, severe restrictions, and targeted harassment and violence against LGBTIQ+ individuals, feminists and civil society activists, often promoted by state media and religious institutions. Homophobic violence remains unrecognised and unprosecuted by state authorities, with more restrictive laws in development. This case study, based on interviews and focus groups with 18 participants, examines the pervasive impact of ‘anti-gender’ politics on various aspects of the lives of people affected by it. Participants overwhelmingly associated ‘anti-gender’ politics with state actions, describing it as a tool for political persecution and suppression of dissent, especially after the 2020 protests. The state's discriminatory laws and rhetoric, often supported by the Church and conservative groups, target LGBTIQ+ and feminist activists. The broader human rights crisis in Belarus further complicates the experiences of queer and feminist activists. Participants reported systemic police homophobia and a lack of legal protection for LGBTIQ+ individuals, with violent crimes often misclassified to obstruct justice. The state's ‘anti-gender’ rhetoric legitimises homophobic actions by law enforcement, contributing to a climate of fear and repression.

This case study explores the effects of 'anti-gender' hostilities in Belarus and discusses how individuals navigate, confront, and resist assaults on their identities, lives, politics, and work within the spheres of sexuality and gender. Given the extensive challenges that feminists and LGBTIQ+ people face in Belarus as well as outside of it, some of which will be detailed in this report, this case study puts the protection of participants first. Only two of our participants were based in Belarus, with most residing in other parts of Europe at the moment of the study. Participants were recruited through targeted emails to known contacts, followed by calls and emails to encourage participation. All discussions took place online and were not audio recorded. Interviews were fully anonymised to protect our participants. Extra protection was taken with the storage of data. The report begins with an overview of the Belarussian context. This is followed by key points on the experiences of, and resistances to, ‘anti-gender’ from participants in one focus group (six participants) and twelve individual interviews. The study includes individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations who are professionally involved in various fields, such as academia, law/human rights, online activism, feminist collectives, and education. Their rich conversations provide a wide range of experiences with ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations and how they resist them from within and outside of Belarus.

Part of the: Deliverables of the RESIST Project (EU Project ID: 101060749). Output ID: “D2.1: Report on the effects and everyday resistances to anti-gender mobilisations”.