The more important question is why now ? Putin's hold on Chechnya is slowly losing, and Kadirov needs to find alternative sources of power/legitimacy, and reli

The more important question is why now ? Putin's hold on Chechnya is slowly losing, and Kadirov needs to find alternative sources of power/legitimacy, and religion is damn powerful one, and targeting Gays is perhaps easiest way to placate the fundamentalists, who might seek to de-throw Kadirov for not being hard-core enough. The Stigma has always been there, but systemic targeting means there are more underlying reasons mostly power struggles or consolidation.