Kazakhstan is intensifying restrictions affecting civil society and LGBT people. In comments to Novaya Gazeta Kazakhstan, activist Zhanar Sekerbayeva linked the push to early elections with an attempt to “silence civil society” and said the LGBT community had become one of the first targets. According to her, the authorities are also preparing tighter rules for NGOs modeled on Russia’s “foreign agents” legislation.
Against this backdrop, the country already has a public registry of individuals and organizations receiving foreign funding, introduced in 2023. There is still no separate law directly restricting the rights of those placed on the list, but the authorities plan to tighten control over the NGO sector in 2026.
The law banning the “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” in Kazakhstan has already reached its final stage. On December 18, the upper house of parliament approved the bill, and it now only requires the president’s signature to take effect. The Ministry of Culture said that propaganda means “a call for a positive assessment of the LGBT community.”
A first violation would carry a fine of 78,600 tenge; a repeat offense within a year would mean a doubled fine or administrative arrest for up to 10 days. In the Mazhilis, lawmakers said the amendments were needed to protect children and teenagers from information that could affect their views of family and morality.
“So if I post a video of myself powerlifting and talking about my results, then, in the state’s interpretation, I am creating a positive image of a lesbian,” Sekerbayeva said, calling the situation absurd.
In late November in Astana, after a closed discussion on LGBT rights, police detained activist Ardzha Tursynkhan; he was later fined under a minor hooliganism article. The next day, officers came to a meeting of the Feminita initiative, where they detained Sekerbayeva and activist Temirlan Baumash; both were released after questioning. Later, KIMEP University canceled Sekerbayeva’s lecture.