For 15 years, Coming Out worked to make life safer, freer, and more equal for LGBTQ+ people in Russia. From our founding in Saint Petersburg in 2008 through 2022, we built services, organized communities, and provided legal tools that helped thousands of people live more openly and defend their rights.
We provided free, confidential psychological and legal support; ran peer and support groups; offered career consultations; and created space for LGBTQ+ people, their parents, and their families to find information, solidarity, and one another. Over this period, our psychological service delivered 10,000 consultations to around 3,500 people, while our legal team provided 2,000 consultations and supported dozens of cases in court.
Outside of direct help, we documented discrimination and violence, conducted research, submitted evidence to international human-rights bodies, and challenged injustice through strategic litigation. This contributed to positive decisions in cases before the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee, and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
We also helped make queer lives visible. Through Queerfest, public campaigns, media work, podcasts, publications, and social media, we created opportunities for LGBTQ+ people to speak in their own voice — and for wider society to listen. Even as pressure, hostility, and restrictions increased, our community continued to grow through the work of staff, volunteers, partners, and supporters.
In 2022, our team had to leave Russia. But leaving did not mean stopping. We adapted our work, maintained our services, and expanded much of the support we provide to LGBTQ+ people from abroad. This report looks back at the foundations we built together — and at the people, courage, and collective effort behind every one of those years.
