PEOPLE WITHOUT A FUTURE: THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY IN KAZAKHSTAN
Igor Kotler
Kazakhstan, a former republic of the Soviet Union, possesses a long and deeply entrenched history of hostility toward homosexuals and other members of the LGBTQ community. During the Soviet period, homosexuality was criminalized and systematically used by the authorities as a tool of social control against both sexual minorities and political dissidents. Charges related to homosexuality were frequently employed to remove individuals from public life and place them in prisons, labor camps, or psychiatric institutions under deeply stigmatizing accusations.
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