Survey finds 88% of trans Russians either want or plan to leave the country

A study by Russian LGBT group Coming Out published Wednesday found that 88% of Russian trans people were either planning to or wanted to leave Russia.

Some 65% of those asked said they wanted to leave Russia, but didn’t know how, while a further 23% had plans to emigrate. Only 12% of those surveyed said they had no plans to leave.

The survey questioned 816 Russians from various parts of the country.

The most commonly cited reason for wanting to leave was the general pressure on LGBT people in the country, with 94% of those wishing to emigrate listing it as a factor.

The second most common reason was state persecution. Some 80% of those asked also gave Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a reason for wanting to leave.

Many transgender Russians attempted to hurriedly change the gender marker in their IDs and passports between May and July 2023, when Putin signed the ban on gender reassignment into law. One in three faced problems doing so.

The change in the law led to many trans Russians becoming unable to obtain prescriptions for required medication, forcing some to forge their documents or make purchases on the black market. Discriminatory legislation has also led to a general distrust of the medical profession, with doctors sometimes refusing to help trans patients or even denouncing them to the authorities.