Apart om activists prottg Mosw and Sat Petersburg, most gay Rsians have attempted to mask their inty, makg difficult for Wterners to know what ’s really like to be gay Rsia. But one gay Rsian teenager is changg this...
Contents:
- ‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA
- INSI THE IRON CLOSET: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY PUT'S RSIA
- RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW
- THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
- 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
- RSIAN NSTUTN CHANGE ENDS HOP FOR GAY MARRIAGE
- TOP RSIAN TENNIS PLAYER DARIA KASATKA OUT AS GAY
- RSIA TO GAYS: SHUT UP AND DISAPPEAR
- 1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS
- MEET THE GAY RSIAN TEENAGER USG TWTER TO COMBAT HOMOPHOBIA
‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA
On the eve of the Sochi Wter Olympics, we go to hidg wh the newly persecuted gay men and women of Vladimir Put's eedom-ee Rsia * russsian gay *
They were tryg to ply wh a 2013 Rsian law that bans exposg mors to anythg that uld be nsired “gay propaganda. ”The anizers had good reason to be wary: Life has been challengg for gay Rsians sce the law passed, as the ernment has treated gay life as a Wtern import that is harmful to tradnal Rsian valu and Rsia’s Parliament is set to pass a legislative package that would ban all “gay propaganda, ” signalg an even more difficult perd ahead for a stigmatized segment of laws would prohib reprentatn of L. Exprsn wh s ratnale for the war Ukrae, sistg that Rsia is fightg not jt Ukrae but all of NATO, a Wtern alliance that reprents a threat to the Put drove home that argument a speech last week, sayg that the Wt n have “dozens of genrs and gay pri paras, ” but that should not try to spread the “trends” elsewhere.
Aleksandr Khste, a puty om the lg Uned Rsia party and the lead thor of the new anti-gay bills, was even more blunt. Lunchenkov said that 2010, when he was school, he felt that he uld exprs his gay inty eely among his classmat. Olenichev said that though the police do not track hate crim agast queer people, he and his lleagu have noticed an crease clients who have suffered inty-based attacks sce rhetoric behd anti-gay laws may have dangero nsequenc for gay Rsians, said Vladimir Komov, a lawyer wh the group Delo 2013 law was promoted as protectg children, while the new on “seek to prohib gay propaganda as a danger to the state system, ” fg as extremism, he Lunchenkov said the proposed laws uld leave gay people “aaid to go to medil clics to get treatment or ttg” for sexually transmted diseas.
”Some gay Rsians doubt that the new laws will greatly affect them.
INSI THE IRON CLOSET: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY PUT'S RSIA
Top Mosw Gay Clubs & Bars: See reviews and photos of Gay Clubs & Bars Mosw, Rsia on Tripadvisor. * russsian gay *
“I am more sred of beg drafted to fight the war than for beg arrted bee I am gay, ” said Andrei Melnikov, 19. Lawmakers llg gays a danger on a par wh war “is more funny than sry, ” he now, gay Rsians and their alli have found exprsn spe rtrictive laws.
A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 7 of the New York edn wh the headle: Life for Gay Rsians Is About to Get Worse. The European Court of Human Rights led 2017 that the 2013 law is discrimatory, promot homophobia and vlat the European Conventn on Human Rights. The urt found that the law “served no legimate public tert, ” rejectg suggtns that public bate on LGBT issu uld fluence children to bee homosexual, or that threatened public morals.
Homosexualy was crimalized Rsia 1993, but homophobia and discrimatn is still rife. Speakg before Put signed the bill to the law on Monday, Tanya Loksha, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch said: “The 2013 ‘gay propaganda’ law was an unabashed example of polil homophobia, and the new draft legislatn amplifi that broar and harsher ways.
RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW
Daria Kasatka, Rsia’s hight ranked female tennis player, me out as gay an terview, while addrsg risg homophobic attus the untry. * russsian gay *
The proposals prohib sharg posive and even ntral rmatn about lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people, and publicly displayg non-heterosexual orientatns, wh hefty f for nonpliance. The origal “gay propaganda” ban, troduced 2013, purported to protect children om “propaganda, ” broadly fed to mean any posive or ntral pictn or discsn of non-heterosexual relatns.
THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
The procs of enterg the gay club Голубая Устрица remd me of a speakeasy om the 1920s. The bar is shroud secrecy and anonymy, but stead of beg filled wh roarg revelers, the atmospheric vibe was nothg short of prsg. Those who wish to party secure a... * russsian gay *
The draft legislatn classifi displays of non-heterosexual relatns or orientatn as “rmatn harmful to children’s health and velopment” and provis that webs and other onle sourc hostg rmatn about lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people n be blocked. “The 2013 ‘gay propaganda’ law was an unabashed example of polil homophobia, and the new draft legislatn amplifi that broar and harsher ways, ” said Tanya Loksha, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. The 2013 “gay propaganda, ” law has been extensively ed by the ernment to stifle pro-LGBT events and to shutdown anizatns and onle media.
“The proposed legislatn and the origal ‘gay propaganda’ ban have no place any society and belong the trash. Good lotn: cy centre, another gay club (911) the nearby area and a gay iendly hostel next to stay (Inga Hotels). The discrimatory law propos to ban all Rsians om promotg or “praisg” homosexual relatnships or publicly suggtg that they are “normal.
The European Court of Human Rights led 2017 that Rsia’s so-lled “gay propaganda law” is discrimatory, promot homophobia and vlat the European Conventn on Human Rights. Although Rsia crimalized homosexualy s ago, animosy agast gays remas high. In 2012, the Mosw cy ernment orred that gay pri paras be banned for the next 100 years.
'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
Attacks on the gay muny persist. Dozens of other activists received ath threats om an obscure anti-gay group that claimed rponsibily for the killg of Grigoryeva, who was stabbed repeatedly and showed signs of 2017, reports of extrajudicial arrts, torture and killgs of gay men the republic of Chechnya drew ternatnal year, Andrei Vaganov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, a uple raisg two adopted children, had to flee Rsia after a doctor reported them to police and thori opened a crimal se.
RSIAN NSTUTN CHANGE ENDS HOP FOR GAY MARRIAGE
Adoptn by same-sex upl is banned Rsia, but Vaganov had applied as a sgle Olenichev, a lawyer wh the Comg Out gay rights group, said there are stanc of tolerance by some urts. He said he has worked on seven ctody s which judg refed to take away ctody, sayg that sexual orientatn don’t play a role a child’s he is ncerned that the nstutnal chang will enurage anti-gay views.
“Our society really looks up to what the ernment do, so any kds of public actns promotg homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, many people may perceive as a ll for actn. ”Print Vladimir Put has rejected cricism of the nstutnal amendments and the gay propaganda said that some untri, “crimal law provisns still exist unr which people of nontradnal sexual orientatn n be persecuted crimally, as was the Soviet Unn.
TOP RSIAN TENNIS PLAYER DARIA KASATKA OUT AS GAY
Rsia’s hight ranked female tennis player me out as gay an terview, while addrsg risg homophobic attus the untry. “This notn of someone wantg to be gay or beg one is ridiculo. “Serly, if there is a choice, no one would choose beg gay.
In 2013, the untry passed a “gay propaganda” law, which has been ed to target the LGTBQ muny, acrdg to The Council for Global Equaly.
RSIA TO GAYS: SHUT UP AND DISAPPEAR
As a gay man a untry that ma anti-gay iology a foundatn of s anti-Ukrae propaganda, he feared for his life every day. In his seven years as a gay activist, Maysky has never seen Rsian-speakg LGBTQ+ immigrants g to California such great numbers. Petersburg who left Rsia after his parents threatened to sue his therapist who backed him receivg hormone therapy; and Ivan, 18, who is gay, half Rsian and half Ukraian, and “didn’t want to kill people.
Thoands of members of the LGBTQ+ muny are fleeg Rsia’s anti-gay laws. “My parents are very nservative and they don’t believe gay people should exist, ” said Max, who didn’t disclose his last name for fear of retaliatn agast his parents who live St. Most of his iends are the closet or fled the untry — and many of them, he said, were vlently attacked by anti-gay groups before they left.
Thoands of members of the LGBTQ+ muny are fleeg Rsia due to anti-gay laws. A survey published 2020 by Mosw-based non-ernmental rearch anizatn the Levada Center, found that about 30% of Rsians wanted to isolate gay people om society.
1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS
One of the rearchers, Ekatera Kochega, told NBC News that many Rsians “would not want to see gay people existg. Although is not illegal to be an LGBTQ+ person Rsia, a ago the Kreml passed a so-lled “gay propaganda law” banng the distributn of rmatn about gay relatnships among mors. Maksim and Dmrii say they n’t wa to marry and start a fay, somethg that they, as gay men, wouldn’t be able to experience back home.
MEET THE GAY RSIAN TEENAGER USG TWTER TO COMBAT HOMOPHOBIA
Livg Rsia as a Gay Man. The procs of enterg the gay club Голубая Устрица remd me of a speakeasy om the 1920s.
My gay club anecdote serv as a metaphor for LGBT (Lbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgenr) life Rsia as a whole. Rsian gays and lbians tackle daily dangers which leave ltle time to take pri their, as the Rsian ernment puts , “non-tradnal liftyle.