Because I speak Russian and because I keep up with art and certain cultural developments in Russia, I’ve had something like (for an American) a front-row seat to the changes in anti-queer sentiment there since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The 1990s were something like a queer Renaissance in Russia. Freed from traditional Soviet opposition to gender and sexual minorities, gay and trans people in Russia began to be out, open and even celebratory.

This is far too difficult to get into details in a simple comment, but a sort of traditionalist backlash against that openness handed Vladimir Putin, when he rose to power, some of the tools effective populist dictators need.

He focused, hardened, and weaponized traditionalist anti-LGBTQ views partly through a subtle lens of Soviet-era nostalgia.

It’s very important to note that LGBTQ advocates in Russia say intense anti-queer attitudes did not spring up from a grassroots process even though their origins are traditionalist.

Before Putin as a populist dictator began to demonize queer people in the public imagination, Russian people in general had taken a more live and let live attitude.

All this is my very long-winded way of agreeing with you that the rise of populist dictatorships represent a real threat to marginalized minorities around the world.

I think we need to be careful not to lose sight of that, though I note that we often do lose sight, especially those of us on the left who are quite appropriately wary of imperialism.