Online hatred against LGBT community in Uzbekistan

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

Anti-gay laws allow hate to spread online, as the LGBT community in Uzbekistan knows well.

Uzbekistan is located east of the Caspian Sea, between Kazakhstan to the north and Turkmenistan to the south. (Map courtesy of the University of Texas at Austin)

The Rainbow Digest from ILGA Europe reports:

Hatred against LGBT community in Uzbekistan on YouTube

In August, LGBTI activists in Uzbekistan issued a warning about hate speech coming from a homophobic blogger who produced a YouTube video condemning LGBT people.

On his YouTube channel, blogger Doston Shuxratovich spreads hatred against LGBT people, names LGBT dating platforms on social media and urges his blog readers to “catch gays and lesbians” and beat them up.

Shuxratovich not only spreads hatred of LGBT people, but also calls for a change in Uzbekistan’s constitution so it would become a conservative Islamic state where LGBT people would not be tolerated.

Since same-sex relations in Uzbekistan are criminalised, LGBTI activists cannot reach out to the police to file complaints against the blogger.