this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
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Did You Know?:
The first decriminalization of homosexuality in an industrialized nation occurred when Lenin legislated it in the newly formed Soviet Union. Stalin eventually rolled it back unfortunately but for a bit more than a decade you could essentially be freely homosexual in the same time period that you could watch a new black and white movie.
EDIT: Thanks to a heads-up from one of our comrades, I realized that one of my statements was unintentionally reactionary. It has since been removed and they have my thanks.
I get why people talk about this in this way, but I think it's a mistake to ascribe intent to this when the decriminalization was a by product of doing away with the Tsarist legal code entirely. There are other instances of socialist states actively pursuing a policy in the direction of queer liberation (earlier and more comprehensive than even modern Western states), such as the GDR in the 80's and Cuba with their new constitution, but unfortunately the Soviet Union was not one of them.
While this is true, as far as I know, it still led to less persecution because there wasn't a legal framework for such thing, so I guess worst case scenario it was fortunate happenstance.