Igor Viktorovich Kochetkov (born 13 May 1970) is a Russian gay rights activist who heads the

Russian LGBT Network The Russian LGBT Network () is a non-governmental LGBT rights organization working for the social acceptance of and protection of the rights of LGBT people in Russia. Founded in 2006, it was reformed into the first (and only) Russian inter-regi ...

. Kochetkov has been active in the opposition to the 2013 Russian law that bans promotion of homosexuality to minors. He has blamed the law for legitimizing and increasing violence against gays. In September 2013, Kochetkov along with other Russian human rights activists met with US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Along with

Alexey Davydov Alexey Davydov (also spelled Alexei, , 1976 or 1977 – ) was a Russian pro-democracy and pro-LGBTQ rights activist. With the former, he was involved with the anti-Putin political movement Solidarnost, while with the latter, he cofounded Moscow ...

he was named one of the world's 100 top thinkers in 2013 by the magazine ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

'' "for fighting Russia's state-sponsored

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

".Alexey Davydov and Igor Kochetkov
'

''. Retrieved 1 October 2014. Kochetkov was along with

Frank Mugisha Frank Mugisha (born 17 June 1979) is a Ugandan LGBT advocate and Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), who has won the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize 2011 for his activism. Mugisha is one of ...

Sunil Babu Pant Sunil Babu Pant (; born 28 June 1971) is a Nepali human rights activist, monk, and former politician who served as a member of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly between 2008 and 2013. Pant's campaigning for LGBT rights led to the Supreme Court ...

and

ILGA The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA, Spanish: ''Asociación internacional de lesbianas, gays, bisexuales, trans e intersexuales'') is a LGBTQ+ rights organization. It participates in a multitude of a ...

nominated for the 2014

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

by Norwegian Labour Parliamentarians

Anette Trettebergstuen Anette Trettebergstuen (born 25 May 1981) is a Norwegian politician representing the Labour Party, who served as Minister of Culture and Equality in Støre's Cabinet from 2021 to 2023. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Hedmark ...

and

Håkon Haugli Håkon Haugli (born 21 May 1969) is a Norwegian politician and business executive. Since 2019 he is the CEO of Innovation Norway. Personal life Haugli was born in Oslo on 21 May 1969, a son of Håvard Haugli and Sigrun Anne Olsen. Career A dep ...

.Kristian Berg Harpvike
Nobel Peace Prize 2014: PRIO Director's Speculations
PRIO. Retrieved 1 October 2014

References

1970 births Living people Gay politicians Russian LGBTQ rights activists Russian gay men {{Russia-bio-stub Yabloko politicians People listed in Russia as media foreign agents Russian activists against the Russian invasion of Ukraine Herzen University alumni