Last month’s European Court of Human Rights case of Bayev and others v. Russia is important in a legal sense and inconsequential in a practical sense. The Court decisively said that Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law violated freedom of expression and was discriminatory. Of the seven judges, six decided that Russia was in the wrong. Only one judge—the judge from Russia—said that the law complied with human rights. This is a decisive legal victory in favor of freedom of expression, but it is doubtful that the court case will influence views of LGBT people in Russia and the region.