'We're not hidg': Gay and lbian Rsians say a cultural shift is unrway

Contents:

• FAR FROM RSIA'S BIGGT CI, BEG GAY MEANS BEG ALWAYS UNR THREAT
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
• THE FEAR OF BEG GAY RSIA
• ‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA
• GAY, RSIA - ONLE CY MAP WH STREETS AND HO
• INSI THE IRON CLOSET: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY PUT'S RSIA
• MOSW GAY MAP
• 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY

FAR FROM RSIA'S BIGGT CI, BEG GAY MEANS BEG ALWAYS UNR THREAT

Petersburg, has also distguished self as most tolerant of the LGBT muny, acrdg to the rults of a recent banned “homosexual propaganda” among mors 2013, leadg the urts to ban gay pri events and public pollg show surgg anti-LGBT sentiment. In recent weeks, thori the North Cs republic of Chechnya have aga been acced of illegally tag and killg gay men and Petersburg me first place among 20 Rsian ci whose rints are the most gay-iendly, acrdg to the Zoom Market agency’s rearch published Saturday.

Novosibirsk and Mosw placed send and third, followed by Voronezh, Krasnodar and the oppose end of the rankg, the marketg agency named Saratov, Chelyabsk and Kazan as the three least tolerant Rsian ci toward LGBT Market surveyed 2, 400 rponnts om 20 Rsian ci on how they feel about sexual mori and whether any of their iends are gay. In July, about a week after the Kreml phed through nstutnal amendments that clu fg marriage as a unn between a man and woman, Tsvetkova was fed for a send time unr the untry’s notor “gay propaganda” law and forced to pay 75, 000 Rubl ($1000) over her lorful illtratns of same-sex upl and their young children.

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

Mizula lost support bee of the “tremendo level of public outrage about the bill’s homophobia and transphobia, ” Jonny Dzhibladze, a ordator at Vykhod (“Comg Out”), a St.

THE FEAR OF BEG GAY RSIA

A year later Put passed the so-lled “gay propaganda” law, which bans rmatn emed to promote homosexualy to mors.

‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA

They urged the thori to protect the activist, who says she has received ath threats om an anonymo homophobic work lled Saw that publish the nam and ntacts of LGBTQ people, and lls for vlence agast them. It’s not as homophobic as our officials and relig lears thk, ” she says.

GAY, RSIA - ONLE CY MAP WH STREETS AND HO

In 2009, Rsia’s most proment opposn figure Alexei Navalny suggted that gay people uld “olic” a rdoned stadium rather than public a Pri Para. More recently, June, he acced the ernment of gog “pletely crazy” after pro-Kreml media group Patrt released a homophobic polil advert. But as a printial ndidate 2018, she clud same-sex civil unns and the liftg of the “gay propaganda” law her polil program.

INSI THE IRON CLOSET: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE GAY PUT'S RSIA

“Homophobia is a daily realy Rsia”. TOLYATTI, Rsia — The last two years have been btal for Konstant Golava, a 22-year-old environmental activist and the only publicly out gay person this grty dtrial cy known for r factori, chemil plants, and nothg early 2012, as soon as Golava started dissematg news ems related to LGBT issu through his social media acunts, mors about his sexual orientatn began to spread. Life Tolyatti is stiflg and reprsive, said Vyachlav, another gay man who, like Golava, grew up here.

If people spect you're gay, he said, n be dangero.

Bee he would often return home late after beg at a gay club or gatherg, his parents worried that his nocturnal schle meant he was alg dgs.

MOSW GAY MAP

In early December, the new feral law was ced fg Rsian LGBT activists Nikolai Alekseyev and Yaroslav Yevthenko 4, 000 bl (about $120) each for holdg a banner readg "Gay propaganda don't exist. People don't bee gay, people are born gay" near a library the far northern cy of Arkhangelsk.

Beyond the legal mefield, however, the anti-gay mpaign appears to have provid sanctn for unfettered exprsns of anger and hatred toward the LGBT muny, whout fear of nsequenc. There are equent reports om around the untry about people beg fired for their sexual orientatn, beg beaten up by anti-gay gangs, or otherwise sufferg mistreatment and discrimatn.

"She started wh that phrase all homophob e, 'I am of urse a very tolerant person myself, but...

'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY

Golava has received moral and legal support om gays and lbians nearby Samara, a historic Volga River port and the regnal pal that unts more than 1 ln rints. A key ally has been Mikhail Tumasov, a longtime Samara rint who two years ago anized an advocy group to ph back agast the anti-gay momentum. In 2011, the magaze Spletnik, which translat as "The Gossip, " cg such cints as a recent effort by a lol right-wg party to strip LGBT people of work rights, clared that "the Samara regn is among the most homophobic the untry.

He cid he need to speak out, and sought support om other Samara gays and lbians through VKontakte, a Rsian social work. 1, World AIDS Day; public gathergs durg an annual "week agast homophobia, " which LGBT groups across the untry have anized each sprg for several years; and surveys of people public venu that have revealed an crease negative attus toward LGBT people as the regnal and feral ernment mpaigns have progrsed.