How Rsia’s First Married Gay Couple End Up Fleeg

Contents:

• THIS RSIAN GAY COUPLE HOP THEIR WEDDG WILL HELP CHANGE MDS
• GAY COUPLE STGGL TO STAY TOGETHER AS WAR UKRAE RAG ON
• GAY COUPLE FLE RSIA AFTER SAME-SEX-MARRIAGE SNDAL
• HOW RSIA’S FIRST MARRIED GAY COUPLE END UP FLEEG
• 'ALONE AND FEAR': ORAL OF MARRIED GAY UPLE FORCED TO FLEE RSIA
• RSIA ‘ACCINTALLY’ REGNIZ GAY MARRIAGE
• RSIAN GAY UPLE CLAIM THEIR MARRIAGE WAS REGNIZED RSIA, BUT THERE’S A TCH
• RSIA’S FIRST GAY MARRIED COUPLE VOWS NEVER TO COME HOME
• GAY MARRIED UPLE FLEE RSIA AFTER RECEIVG ATH THREATS
• 1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

THIS RSIAN GAY COUPLE HOP THEIR WEDDG WILL HELP CHANGE MDS

For three years they had to hi their love Rsia, where the law allows the removal of children om gay parents.

“My mother hat gay men, she let me unrstand clearly, when I was 15 years old, ” Shcherbak said. “The biggt surprise we had was the overwhelmg supportive reactn om thoands of Rsians, which basilly shows that people Rsia are not homophobic, jt brawashed, ” Zygar Rsian enomy may be shrkg, the Rsian ary has failed all the Kreml’s adl for wng the war Ukrae, but the Rsian thori still fd time to persecute Rsia’s LGBTQ muny. Lawmakers are discsg what else n be banned unr the fn of so-lled “LGBT propaganda”—now there is an ia to ban any promotn of homosexualy on the ter and culture.

GAY COUPLE STGGL TO STAY TOGETHER AS WAR UKRAE RAG ON

That’s how Maxim wound up close enough to Stepan that they uld see each other on Hor, a gay hookup app. Rsia has been stokg homophobia the regn ever sce Rsia enacted s so-lled “gay propaganda ban” ne years ago.

So they lived quietly, always reful about who knew they were gay. Many queer people fled the new regime, and the fear that queer people might be targeted seemed to e te 2015, when the one gay club the regn was raid by separatists, who beat and robbed the patrons. They were still reful about who they told they were gay — Stepan didn’t even feel fortable tellg the doctor at the clic where he got his HIV treatment.

While many LGBTQ people enthiastilly enlisted, many other queer people, like Stepan and Maxim, didn’t believe the ary would be a safe place for them bee of wispread homophobia.

GAY COUPLE FLE RSIA AFTER SAME-SEX-MARRIAGE SNDAL

They were aaid they would be targeted as gays if Rsian-aligned troops ptured their town. They shared a small room wh seven other gay men — and five ts — everyone sleepg si by si on mattrs on the floor.

HOW RSIA’S FIRST MARRIED GAY COUPLE END UP FLEEG

All the rints were gay men or trans women wh male documents, and the whole buildg was on edge as they strategized wh volunteer se workers about how to get whe tickets and leave the untry. ’” But Stepan don’t want to tell his client that he’s gay, or HIV-posive, or get to any of the other personal tails such a nversatn would require.

LGBT-Network head Igor Kochetkov said police had told Stotsko and Vosekhovensky they would not be protected om possible attacks by homophobic vigilant.

'ALONE AND FEAR': ORAL OF MARRIED GAY UPLE FORCED TO FLEE RSIA

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.

RSIA ‘ACCINTALLY’ REGNIZ GAY MARRIAGE

“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.

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.

RSIAN GAY UPLE CLAIM THEIR MARRIAGE WAS REGNIZED RSIA, BUT THERE’S A TCH

Couple arrted for vlatg Rsia’s ‘gay propaganda’ law. Police the Rsian cy of Kazan Wednday arrted a publicly out gay uple, Haoyang Xu and Gela Gogishvili, for their alleged breach of the untry’s “gay propaganda” law.

The two men are particularly active on social media, where they amassed a large followg by chroniclg their experienc Rsia as a gay, non-Slavic uple. -fund Rad Free Europe/Rad Liberty, they immediately experienced harassment after they began uploadg vios documentg their experienc as a gay uple Rsia.

RSIA’S FIRST GAY MARRIED COUPLE VOWS NEVER TO COME HOME

The threats me to un on Wednday, when the uple was arrted the Rsian cy of “gay propaganda” law, first troduced 2013, mak a crimal act Rsia to publicly release material pictg same-sex relatnships. It had seemed like a momento event at first, a turng pot for gay Rsians.

Their story, broadst on state televisn, had returned the topic of gay marriage to the natnal nversatn  a untry where tolerance towards LGBT people has nosedived unr Print Vladimir saga began on the morng of Jan. Not only is gay marriage illegal  Rsia;  2013 the untry passed a law agast so-lled “gay propaganda, ” which mak  punishable for gay upl to kiss or rry a rabow flag  the vicy of mors. The law and acpanyg rhetoric have buttrsed homophobia  the untry — a recent poll found that 83 percent of Rsians fd sex between people of the same genrs to be “reprehensible.

GAY MARRIED UPLE FLEE RSIA AFTER RECEIVG ATH THREATS

“Rsia officially accepts gay marriage, ” he announced. “We did this not jt for , but for everyone who is sred to be gay  public.

“[The marriage law] was wrten by normal people who didn’t take the dark nuanc of ternatnal law to acunt, ” said Valy Milonov, the puty who troduced the origal 2013 “gay propaganda” bill.

But before the thori left the apartment late that night, Igor Kochetkov, who heads the Rsian LGBT Network, said they issued a veiled threat, sayg they would not be able to protect the uple om homophobic a YouTube vio of the Rossia-24 broadst, Rsians lled for the uple’s heads. We did this not jt for , but for everyone who is sred to be gay public.

1 5 RSIANS WANT GAYS AND LBIANS 'ELIMATED,' SURVEY FDS

” Kochetkov Kochetkov, the episo is an important moment for gay Rsians and an opportuny for society to have a discsn about gay rights. Nikolai Alexeyev, who has been at the foreont of the gay rights movement for years, don’t believe the uple’s story will lead to ncrete chang, even if  prents a posive moment for discsn. “We’ve already tried everythg, ” he told The Mosw only avenue open to gay upl is the European Court of Human Rights, he said, where there already is a se pendg of three Rsian gay upl who were married abroad and are tryg to have the unns regnized back urt is expected to announce s cisn  the next six months to two years, Alexeyev said.

“When that lg is hand down, we n have a real discsn about the potential for gay marriage  Rsia, ” he said. Alexeyev also dismissed the legal loophole as nsequential, notg that Rsian law is clear about s stance on gay marriage overall, even if  do not fe marriage explicly. Тhis week at the Gogol Center, though, Pecheyk rebutted siar suggtns already circulatg that his iend did not ntribute to the gay rights e.

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

On a ld January eveng, as placloth police officers hammered relentlsly on the door of their flat near Mosw, newlywed gay uple Pavel Stotsko and Yevgeny Vosekhovsky began to nsir fleeg Rsia. Although homosexualy is not agast the law Rsia, same-sex marriage is.

We thought that we uld now live happily and lmly Rsia, and that, spe all the homophobia, the law was on our si, ” Stotsko said.

The uple also received numero ath rights groups say homophobic attacks have rocketed Rsia sce Print Vladimir Put approved a ntroversial law barrg so-lled “gay propaganda” 2013, effectively makg an offence to promote LGBT rights public. Dozens of gay men were taed and tortured Chechnya, a maly Mlim republic southern Rsia, last officers soon turned up at the uple’s flat Lyubertsy, a small town jt outsi the Rsian pal, and mand that they hand over their ternal passports.