Even though discussions regarding this topic raises valid criticism against Russia, it is important to also not stay only in the criticism but to understand why it happened(in other words, contextualization is key) and how to avoid it(or solve it) in other places.
What the imperialist did in Russia, along with the current siege and russophobia, is called dialectical baiting:
And there is evidence of the baiting if we check the conversations of Epstein and one imperialist collaborator in Russia:
The imperialist baiting can be defined as: "Co-opting progressive causes to taint resistance. Here, imperialism cynically drapes itself in liberation rhetoric (women's rights, LGBT rights, secularism) to alienate anti-imperialist movements from global solidarity and frame them as reactionary."
The USA used that baiting not only against Russia but against countries like China as well:
You can read the entire post on dialectical baiting here in XHS -> http://xhslink.com/o/8smOPYaERUx
In that post, they give their analysis on how to resist the bait. I could also add a couple of examples of failed dialectical baits such as the Zionists saying that the Palestinian resistance hates the LGBTQ.
As for the topic on the LGBTQ+ in Russia, it will take time to heal but it is a battle that has to be fought in two fronts:
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Our Russian LGBTQ+ comrades have to fight the Western identity that fell for the bait and construct a new movement that is native to them. This is a very similar fight that is occurring in plenty of other places in the Global South like Burkina Faso's LGBTQ+ as well.
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Our Global North comrades have to fight and expel liberalism from the LGBTQ+ orgs and avoid the imperialist using your identity to justify genocide. Example of a dialectical bait where a fascist uses the LGBTQ+ identity to justify genocide -> https://lemmygrad.ml/post/8379615