ARMENIA: ‘Anti-LGBTQI+ Discourse Is Increasingly Tied to Anti-democratic Narratives’

by CIVICUSFriday, July 31, 2026Inter Press Service CIVICUS discusses disinformation campaigns targeting the LGBTQI+ community in Armenia with Hripsime Kizogyan, Executive Director of Pink Armenia, a community-based organisation that defends the human rights of LGBTQI+ people and advocates for policy change. Hripsime KizogyanAhead of Armenia’s recent parliamentary election, a coordinated online campaign tried to portray Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government as secretly backing the LGBTQI+ community. The campaign spread AI-generated images showing Pashinyan at a Pride event that never happened and falsely claimed Pink Armenia was behind the event, as part of a wider effort to present LGBTQI+ organisations as vehicles for foreign agendas. Campaigns such as these help drive hostility against LGBTQI+ people.What was the fake Pride campaign about?In late January, online stories started appearing that claimed that Armenia’s first LGBTQI+ Pride march would take place in the capital, Yerevan, on 7 April, supported by our organisation and personally led by Nikol Pashinyan. The date was no accident, because 7 April is a religious holiday and Mother’s Day in Armenia.None of it was true. ...