The term "sodomy" in modern Russian language is used in two meanings: as a designation of homosexual contact between men (usually in a religious context) or as a purely legal term meaning a specific crime. Let's try to figure out what meaning is embedded in this word and what legal sense it has.
Sodom Sin
Thinking over the question “Sodomy - what is it?”, You involuntarily begin to recall the Bible. And really: in Russian, this word came from Church Slavonic, and specifically from religious law. In it, this term was originally understood exclusively as anal sex between two men.
A synonym for the term “sodomy” in church law is also the later name “sodomy”, borrowed from European languages. This term is associated with the biblical legend of the city of Sodom, whose inhabitants became famous for such perverted behavior that they even began to pester the angels who appeared in the city with the only righteous Lot. It should be noted that in the church legal sense, sodomy is not only sodomy, but all other sexual practices that are considered vicious from the Church’s point of view (masturbation, oral sex, even extramarital affairs).
Punishment for sodomy in old Russia
Initially in Russia, husbands were treated rather softly. There was no criminal punishment under secular law for him, and church punishments were limited to penance for a term of one to seven years - that is, almost the same as in fornication between a man and a woman.
However, over time, the situation has changed. Under the influence of Western Europe, articles on sodomy appeared in Russian law, providing for severe punishment. The reign of Peter I was perhaps the worst for the husbands . In the early years, a rule was in effect under which the crime was supposed to be burned (a thing, in fact, for the Russian legal tradition, to put it mildly, uncharacteristic). Later, the sentence was commuted: regular homosexual contact was punishable by corporal punishment, while rape was punishable by indefinite exile.
Later, right up to Nicholas I, punishments were practically not applied. However, the “Code” adopted in 1832 (in fact, the first Russian criminal code) again contained norms on responsibility for sodomy. Now the perpetrators were punished with a prison for at least three months, and under special circumstances (violence, sex with a minor) - up to eight years. This punishment formally operated before the October Revolution.
In itself, pre-revolutionary law did not give a direct answer to the question about sodomy - what is it. However, in the practice of the courts this crime was understood almost exclusively as anal intercourse.
Tolerant USSR?
In the first Soviet years, homosexuality was not banned. The old law of the times of the Russian Empire did not work, and in the new criminal laws there was no liability.
Moreover, the leadership of the Union even stopped attempts to impose punishment for this in the criminal law of individual republics. The USSR of the twenties, not without reason, was considered a model of tolerance for sexual deviations. There was no article for sodomy in the USSR at that time.
Return to punishment
The situation changed in the early thirties. First, there were allegations about sodomy, that it was an exclusively bourgeois perversion, intolerant in the Soviet state. The OGPU began the arrests of people suspected of unconventional ties. It has been argued that husbands create clandestine organizations with the goal of corrupting and politically decaying youth. And in 1934, an article for sodomy was introduced in the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, and a little later - in the Criminal Code of other republics of the USSR. From that moment, sodomy in the USSR again became a crime.
In Soviet law, it was said about sodomy, that this is any sexual contact between a man and a man. For voluntary sex the punishment was imprisonment for up to five years, for violence or coercion - up to eight.
The exact number of convicted under this article is unknown. It is believed that on average about a thousand sentences were pronounced in the USSR per year, but it is impossible to verify whether this is possible, since some of the criminal cases have been lost, and the vast majority are still kept in closed archives. According to human rights activists, in general, at least 60 thousand people left the sentence under the article punishing for sodomy.
Curious fact: exclusively gay men were punished. Lesbian women in the USSR were never punished, and their addictions remained their personal affair.
Criminal Penalties
However, since the 70s in the USSR, the opinion began to spread that the criminal punishment for sodomy should be abolished. For example, a joke is known: "Putting a husband in jail is the same as condemning an alcoholic to corrective labor at a distillery." More seriously, it was argued that immorality in itself should not be considered a crime. However, up to the very end of the existence of the USSR, responsibility remained.
The situation changed after the collapse of the Union and the declaration of independence of Russia. Although in the early years of the Russian Federation, sodomy was still considered a crime (the old Soviet law still applied), in 1993 the article was changed. From that moment on, punishment was only for violent sodomy or for sex with a minor.
Modern Russian legislation on sodomy
Now in Russia, the punishment for sodomy is in itself absent. However, the term has been preserved. Now, punishment is provided only for sodomy or other acts of a similar nature (including lesbianism) committed through violence, coercion or in which the victim is a person who has not reached the "age of consent" (in Russia he is set at 16 years old). Voluntarily, adults and sane citizens have the right to do whatever they please.
Despite the fact that recently Russia has introduced responsibility for homosexual propaganda, there is no reason to believe that an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for sodomy will be introduced.