What the Hell Is Gog On Wh Rsia and Gays?: An Explaer

Contents:

• PUT’S PRI? SIX FAMO GAY SONS OF RSIA
• 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
• ‘BORN GAY THE SOVIET UNN, LIVG GAY RSIA’ MZA SS DOWN WH THE ANONYMO ARTIST BEHD THE QUEER ART PROJECT ‘PASHA’
• MAXIM RSIA'S LIST OF 'GAYS WE RPECT' PRAIS LGBT STARS WHO 'REMA REAL MEN'
• RSIAN ACTOR IVAN OKHLOBYST: ‘I WOULD PUT ALL THE GAYS ALIVE INTO AN OVEN’
• 1917 RSIAN REVOLUTN: THE GAY MUNY'S BRIEF WDOW OF EEDOM
• RSIAN GAY MICIANS — WHERE ARE THEY?
• IN RSIAN POP CULTURE, IT'S 50 SHAS OF GAY
• KARèN SHAYAN WANTS TO INSPIRE LGBTQ RSIANS TO COME OUT—WH SOME CELEBRY HELPBRAVEON HIS POPULAR YOUTUBE TALK SHOW, KARèN SHAYAN TERVIEWS CELEBRI LIKE CYNTHIA NIXON AND BILLY PORTER. HE HOP THEIR EXPERIENC HELP SPIRE LGBTQ RSIANS TO E OUT.ANNA NEMTSOVAUPDATED MAY 23, 2020 10:02PM EDT / PUBLISHED MAY 23, 2020 5:12AM EDT ANNA NEMTSOVA/THE DAILY BEASTMOSCOW—THERE ARE MANY BRAVE EE-THKERS RSIA BUT ONLY ONE STRAIGHT TALK WH GAY PEOPLE, A THOUGHTFUL YOUTUBE TALK SHOW BY KARèN SHAYAN, A MOSW-BASED EDOR AND WRER. TO ENURAGE RSIAN CELEBRI TO E OUT, SHAYAN PUBLISH TERVIEWS WH THE WORLD’S LEADG LGBTQ ARTISTS, PHILOSOPHERS, ACTORS, WRERS, AND SCIENTISTS, A SERI OF STRAIGHTFORWARD NVERSATNS. HE IS A BROAD-CHTED MAN WH BIG, TELLIGENT EY AND A SCERE SE. IT IS EASY TO OPEN UP TO SHAYAN—HIS TERVIEWE REVEAL THEIR MOST TRMATIZG, CHALLENGG STORI OF CLASH WH HOMOPHOB, AND SHARE PERSONAL WAYS OF VELOPG STRONG VOIC THEIR PROFSNAL FIELDS. SHAYAN, WHO IS 39, HAS NEVER KEPT HIS HOMOSEXUALY A SECRET, WHICH IS UNUAL FOR A PUBLIC PERSON RSIA. HIS CIRCLE OF IENDS, LLEAGU, AND MOSW TELLECTUALS EMBRACE HIS TALENTS AND IENDSHIP. BUT BACK HIS SIBERIAN HOMETOWN OF IRKUTSK, SHAYAN EXPERIENCED HUIATN—AND FEAR IS NO STRANGER TO HIM.  “RSIAN GAY PEOPLE, GAY CELEBRI, ARE VISIBLE. NOBODY KNOWS HOW THEY LIVE, WHAT THEY CREATE, WHAT THEY ACHIEVE AS PROFSNALS, AND HOW SUCCSFUL THEY ARE ” IN SPE OF THE HORRIFIC PERSECUTNS AND VLENT ATTACKS ON LGBTQ PEOPLE RSIA, SHAYAN IS A STRONG BELIEVER THAT THERE IS HOPE TO LIBERATE PEOPLE OM FEAR THROUGH TN. “IGNORANCE AND DIFFERENCE ARE THE KEY REASONS BEHD THE WORST HOMOPHOBIA,” HE TOLD THE DAILY BEAST ON A RECENT AFTERNOON. “RSIAN GAY PEOPLE, GAY CELEBRI, ARE VISIBLE. NOBODY KNOWS HOW THEY LIVE, WHAT THEY CREATE, WHAT THEY ACHIEVE AS PROFSNALS, AND HOW SUCCSFUL THEY ARE THEIR OWN UNTRY.”SHAYAN SAYS THAT FEAR OF LOSG PRTIGE, MONEY OR ACCS TO A BIG DIENCE WERE THE REASON NO MASTREAM CELEBRI ADVOTED FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE ANTI-GAY PURG CHECHNYA FOR STANCE, WHEN A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WERE MURRED AND TAED, AND MANY TORTURED. ANNA NEMTSOVA/THE DAILY BEAST “TO RSIAN CELEBRI G OUT MEANS A POLIL MSAGE, A MAND FOR HAVG CERTA RIGHTS,” SHAYAN TOLD THE DAILY BEAST. “BUT A PUBLIC G-OUT WOULD MEAN AN IMMEDIATE HUGE LOSS OF ACCS TO THE NCERT HALLS.”TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND HELP TO OPEN MDS, SHAYAN TRAVELED TO THE UNED STAT TO SPEAK TO FIGUR CLUDG STARS LIKE CYNTHIA NIXON AND BILLY PORTER, THOR GARRARD CONLEY, PRODUCER BCE COHEN AND GION LCHFIELD, EDOR--CHIEF OF MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW.MORE THAN ONE LN PEOPLE HAVE VIEWED HIS BLOG ON YOUTUBE LS THAN THREE MONTHS. “THE IA OF THE PROJECT IS TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTN OF A BROAR DIENCE AND EXPOSE ALL THE EXISTG MYTHS AROUND LGBTQ PEOPLE,” SHAYAN TOLD THE DAILY BEAST ON A RECENT AFTERNOON.“SCE AS SOON AS PEOPLE HEAR THE WORD ‘GAY’ THE RSIAN MEDIA AGENDA, ALWAYS OM TWO POL—EHER OM HOMOPHOB AND STATE PROPAGANDA LLG TO BRG THE SOVIET CRIMAL LAW BACK TO THE LEGISLATN OR OM LGBT ACTIVISTS, WHO E THE WORD THE NTEXT OF THEIR FIGHT, VLATED RIGHTS OR CLASH WH POLICE. THE ARE TWO RADIL NTEXTS, WHILE REALY, SEVERAL LN RSIAN LGBTQ PEOPLE ARE MUTED, THEY ARE NOT REPRENTED THE PUBLIC SPACE.”SOME HAVE CRICIZED HIM FOR ONLY TERVIEWG SUCCSFUL LGBTQ PEOPLE, BUT SHAYAN SAID HE WAS NOT TRYG TO “REHABILATE” THE IMAGE OF LGBTQ PEOPLE FOCG ON FAMO PEOPLE. “THAT WOULD BE A VERY SOVIET APPROACH.”SHAYAN IS SGLE, AND A GAY PARENT OF TWO BOYS, AGED 9 AND ONE-AND-A-HALF, NCEIVED WH LBIAN MOTHERS. HIS OLR SON LIV WH HIS MOTHER KYIV. BEFORE COVID-19 SHUT DOWN THE UNTRY, HE TRAVELED TO SEE HIM ONCE A MONTH, AND ALSO BROUGHT HIM TO MOSW FOR SCHOOL BREAKS. WHEN HE STARTED HIS BLOG EARLIER THIS YEAR THE MOTHER OF HIS OLR SON ASKED SHAYAN IF WAS SAFE FOR THEIR SON TO E TO MOSW. SHE WAS NOT NCERNED ABOUT VLENCE OF HOMOPHOB SO MUCH AS STATE AGENCI TAKG THEIR SON AWAY. “EVERYBODY IS SRED OF THE RSIAN JUVENILE JTICE SYSTEM,” SAID SHAYAN. “THEY E THE BIGGT FEAR FOR THE ENTIRE RSIAN LGBTQ MUNY. NONE OF THOSE WH CHILDREN N DARE TO BE POLILLY ACTIVE, THEY ARE MOST VULNERABLE,” HE TOLD THE DAILY BEAST.LAST YEAR, RSIA’S INVTIGATIVE COMMTEE STARTED A LAWSU NCERNG TWO GAY MEN, ANDREY EROVFEYEV AND ANDREY VAGANOV, AND THEIR TWO ADOPTED CHILDREN. THE FAY HAD TO PE PERSECUTN BY FLEEG TO THE UNED STAT. “BUT SPE OF THE PRSURE, THOANDS OF GAY PEOPLE NTUE TO RAISE CHILDREN RSIA,” SAID SHAYAN. “I RECEIVE THANK YOU NOT OM LBIAN AND GAY UPL, WHO HAVE LTLE CHILDREN.”  A SON OF SCIENTISTS AND A BCHEMIST BY TN, SHAYAN HAS ALWAYS BEEN TERTED THE IA OF TN AS A KEY TO EEDOM. MISRMATN AND THE DISTORTN OF HISTORY RSIAN PROPAGANDA ANNOY HIM. “UNFORTUNATELY, RSIANS DO NOT KNOW THEIR OWN HISTORY:  HOMOPHOBIA IS ONLY 300 YEARS OLD. BEFORE PETER THE GREAT BEGAN TO EXECUTE HOMOSEXUALS THE ARMY, PYG GERMAN PUNISHMENT L, GAY PEOPLE ENJOYED RIGHTS RSIA,” SHAYAN SAID.BEFORE THE COVID-19 SHUTDOWN, MOSW’S LGBTQ POPULATN ENJOYED BARS, CLUBS AND DATG WEBS, NOT MUCH DIFFERENT OM WHAT LGBTQ PEOPLE HAVE THE WT, EXCEPT THAT HERE THE CULTURE EXISTS UNRGROUND. THEN TERNATNAL FLIGHTS WERE NCELLED, AND LGBTQ PEOPLE WERE WORRIED ABOUT BEG ABLE TO PE THE UNTRY IF A NEW MPAIGN OF PERSECUTN BEGAN.IN THE MIDST OF THE RONAVIS PANMIC, LEVADA CENTER, AN PENNT POLLG AGENCY, PUBLISHED NEW HORRIFYG POLLS: 18 PERCENT OF RSIANS WANTED TO SEE LGBT PEOPLE “LIQUIDATED.” SHAYAN ADMTED THAT FOR A FEW SENDS HE FELT “ANIMAL FEAR” UPON SEEG THE FIGUR. SHAYAN TERVIEWED LEVADA’S SOCLOGISTS ABOUT THEIR STUDY. IT TURNED OUT THAT SCE 1989 THE SOCLOGIL CENTER HAS BEEN ASKG THE SAME QUTNS ABOUT PEDOPHIL, MURRERS, AND DG ADDICTS (AS IF GROUPG LGBTQ PEOPLE ALONGSI THE GROUPS MAKE ANY KD OF SENSE). BY “LIQUIDATG,” THE SOCLOGISTS TOLD SHAYAN, SOME PEOPLE ALSO MEANT SOCIAL ISOLATN. “IF WE APPLY THE UAL STATISTICS, THERE MIGHT BE UP TO 10 LN LBIANS, GAY, TRANSGENR, QUEER OR BISEXUAL PEOPLE OUR UNTRY” RSIA’S FAMO LGBTQ PEOPLE KNOW EACH OTHER OR OF EACH OTHER, BUT PREFER TO NEVER SPEAK PUBLICLY ABOUT THE HORRIFYG S OF HOMOPHOBIA. RSIA DO NOT KNOW EXACTLY HOW MANY LGBT PEOPLE HAS, SHAYAN SAID, “BUT IF WE APPLY THE UAL STATISTICS, THERE MIGHT BE UP TO 10 LN LBIANS, GAY, TRANSGENR, QUEER OR BISEXUAL PEOPLE OUR UNTRY.” THE FAMO ANTI-LGBTQ “PROPAGANDA” LAW OF 2013 BANS THE “PROMOTN OF NONTRADNAL SEXUAL RELATNS TO MORS”; GAY PEOPLE ARE FORBIDN TO MARRY, BARRED OM ADOPTG CHILDREN OR G SURROGACY. THGS ARE GROWG WORSE, ACRDG TO SOVA CENTER, A GROUP MONORG HATE CRIM RSIA. THE NUMBER OF ATTACKS ON LGBTQ PEOPLE CREASED LAST YEAR.    “OH, MAYBE THIS IS SOMETHG I REALLY SHOULD NSIR”SHAYAN HAS BEEN PUBLISHG ARTICL RSIA’S BT MAGAZ AND EDG THOUGHTFUL POLIL BOOKS, CLUDG THE BTSELLER ALL THE KREML’S MEN. ANNA SHPAKOVA, A PHOTO CURATOR AND EDOR WHO WORKED WH SHAYAN ON SEVERAL PROJECTS MOSW, SAYS SHE UNRSTANDS WHY PEOPLE OPEN UP TO HIM. “KARèN CREAT A SECURE ENVIRONMENT FOR YOU, HE ACTUALLY DO RE WHOUT PRETENSE. I FELT FORTABLE AND SAFE WHEN HE WAS AROUND, WHICH IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE WORKG ENVIRONMENT,” SHPAKOVA TOLD THE DAILY BEAST. IN HIS TERVIEWS, SHAYAN MAK THE POT THAT G OUT WAS NEVER EASY EVEN FOR THE MOST OUTGOG AMERIN STARS. CYNTHIA NIXON SPOKE ABOUT HER TRANSGENR SON, EXPLAED WHAT GENR ISSU MEANT TO HER, AND HOW SHE HAD TO NSULT A PSYCHOLOGIST TO UNRSTAND HERSELF BETTER. NIXON IS VERY POPULAR RSIA; LNS SAW HER SEX THE CY, WHICH WAS BROADST ON A MUCH MORE TOLERANT MEDIA TWO S AGO.MOST RSIAN LGBTQ PEOPLE WHO OPPOSE THE IA OF G OUT TELL SHAYAN: “WHY SHOULD I E OUT OF MY FORT ZONE?” COHEN MAK THE POT AN TERVIEW FOR SHAYAN’S BLOG, THAT G OUT, ON A PERSONAL AND LLECTIVE SLE IS POLILLY POWERFUL—A PRCIPLE MOST FAMOLY VOICED BY LGBTQ RIGHTS IN HARVEY MILK. “TEN PERCENT OF RSIANS ARE LGBTQ, WHETHER THEY LIKE OR NOT; SO WHEN 1 PERCENT IS OUT, THE 9 PERCENT SAY, ‘WHAT DO MATTER? THIS IS SUCH A SMALL GROUP ANYWAY, HOW AM I HURTG ANYTHG?’ AND THEN THE MORE PEOPLE E OUT, THE MORE OF A VOICE THERE IS AND THE MORE CHANGE YOU N GET DONE, THE MORE OTHER PEOPLE, WHO AREN’T OUT YET, START TO THK, ‘OH, MAYBE THIS IS SOMETHG I REALLY SHOULD NSIR.’” DURG THE COVID-19 SHUTDOWN I TERVIEWED SHAYAN A URTYARD OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. HE GRABBED ANY AVAILABLE BAR TO DO PULL UPS OR VERY IMPRSIVE LEG LIFTS. ATHLETIC SHAYAN, A MARATHON NNER, SUCCSFULLY BEAT THE RONAVIS AFTER HE WAS FECTED UPON HIS RETURN OM NEW YORK FEBARY. WHEN THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK H MOSW HARD, MORE THAN 150,000 PEOPLE BEME SICK WH THE VIS. SHAYAN BEME A BLOOD DONOR. “IRONILLY, RSIAN GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT BANNED OM DONATG BLOOD, UNLIKE SOME UNTRI, LIKE AMERI,” HE SAID. THIS IS AT LEAST ONE RIGHT LGBTQ RSIANS ARE NOT PRIVED OF, AND SHAYAN WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MOSW RINTS TO PUT TO E THE PANMIC. IT DO NOT SURPRISE HIS IENDS, WHO ALWAYS THOUGHT OF HIM AS OF A SUPERMAN.  ANNA NEMTSOVA
• WHAT THE HELL IS GOG ON WH RSIA AND GAYS?: AN EXPLAER
• ON THE MOSW METRO AND BEG GAY
• RSIA'S LARGT GAY NIGHTCLUB STRIV TO BE A HAVEN DPE HORRIFIC ATTACKS

PUT’S PRI? SIX FAMO GAY SONS OF RSIA

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. “Sce as soon as people hear the word ‘gay’ the Rsian media agenda, always om two pol—eher om homophob and state propaganda llg to brg the Soviet crimal law back to the legislatn or om LGBT activists, who e the word the ntext of their fight, vlated rights or clash wh police. Before Peter the Great began to execute homosexuals the army, pyg German punishment l, gay people enjoyed rights Rsia, ” Shayan the COVID-19 shutdown, Mosw’s LGBTQ populatn enjoyed bars, clubs and datg webs, not much different om what LGBTQ people have the Wt, except that here the culture exists unrground.

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.

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

Thanks to the shownners drivg thentic stori, filmmakers buckg s-old heteronormative paradigms, actors embolned to live more hontly and platforms bankrollg so much of , beg gay, queer, transgenr or any other other has never been more wily embraced the entertament s gural Pri issue, The Hollywood Reporter homed on the talent and makers helpg boost visibily and creatg opportuni for members of the extend LGBTQ muny. Puttg his stamp on The Ln Kg — he played Timon to great acclaim the billn-dollar-earng Disney reboot — the out-and-proud funnyman will next play Matt Ddge  Amerin Crime Story: Impeachment while his upg Judd Apatow-produced feature at Universal is set to be the first gay rom- om a major stud. The queer Salvadoran edian translated the handful of breakout Saturday Night Live scen he wrote to multiple als at HBO — where he buted the edy special My Favore Shap  2019 and is readyg season two of Los Espookys, the half-Spanish, half-English, entirely absurd edy which he stars as the gay heir to a cholate fortune.

NewsMaxim Rsia's list of 'gays we rpect' prais LGBT stars who 'rema real men'The Rsian versn of Maxim released a ntroversial list of gay celebri who n be "fiven" for their sexual Rsia's list of gay men who n be "fiven" is beg taken as a backhand pliment, at btNeil Patrick Harris, Freddie Mercury and Sir Ian McKellen are among the select group of male celebri Maxim Rsia chose to clu their recent list of 'Gays We Rpect. ' (Screenshot/)Rsian Lord of the Rgs fans who e Maxim magaze as a moral and ethil pass should be pleased to note that is now A-OK, by the publitn's standards, to rpect actor Ian McKellen as a "real man" and fellow human award-wng Brish thpian, known to lns as Gandalf the wizard or X-Men's Mago, tops Maxim Rsia's recently-released list of men the magaze has "fiven" for beg homosexual. "Includg McKellen, a total of ten very famo men ma the cut:Brish edian Stephen FryIrish playwright and novelist Osr WilQueen ontman Freddie MercuryFrench actor Jean MaraisFamed mathematician Alan TurgFight Club thor Chuck Palahni​Judas Prit rocker Rob HalfordMonty Python's Graham ChapmanAmerin actor and TV host Neil Patrick Harris"We weren't sure about cludg Neil Patrick Harris the list — after all, he clared himself a 'happy gay' 2006, " reads a blurb unr Harris's the actor's How I Met Your Mother character, Barney Stson, as the reason for Harris's cln, the magaze wr that "'s impossible not to rpect someone who elevated the hunt for girls to a te art, who systematized all the tricks and techniqu and created the 'Bro Co.

"His creativy brought so much joy, that we are willg to five him anythg"Rsia and gay rightsHomosexualy was legalized Rsia more than two s ago, but is timated that jt 1% of the untry's LGBT populatn liv openly due to the discrimatn and sometim vlence gay people passg of an "anti-gay" propaganda law ahead of 2014's Sochi Olympics brought the issue to a head on the world stage, spurrg ternatnal protts and triggerg even more asslts on gay men and women wh Rsia (asslts that don't unt as hate crim unr Rsian law. He did not thk guts would e if had jt been a he gambled - rightly - that a proper weddg wh all the Rsian tradns, bread and salt, a blsg om the proud parents, and a ncert to follow, would be the time Rsia's gay muny was enjoyg a brief wdow of the October Revolutn 1917, the Bolsheviks scrapped and rewrote the untry's laws. The se was eventually closed and the "unter-revolutnari" got away wh nothg more than a to regnise 'one's own'Image source, Olga KhoroshilovaImage ptn, Apasha and Apashka, fashn ins of the NEP era, Lengrad, mid-1920sGay men had been part of a distct unrground muny Rsia long before the revolutn and they regnised each other by the "secret language" of St Petersburg, some wore red ti, or red shawls, onto which they would sew the back pockets of powred their fac and wore a lot of the revolutn, the heavily ma-up "silent film star look" beme more mastream and no longer jt a fashn for young gay more about the Rsian RevolutnThe upheaval of the revolutn and civil war brought hard tim to Rsia and gay men were not able to match the flamboyant cloth and luxury accsori favoured by some of their unterparts across but still persecutedThe Bolsheviks were directly fluenced by Magn Hirschfeld, a German scientist who found the Instute of Sexology Berl.

‘BORN GAY THE SOVIET UNN, LIVG GAY RSIA’ MZA SS DOWN WH THE ANONYMO ARTIST BEHD THE QUEER ART PROJECT ‘PASHA’

It nsisted of soldiers, sailors, clerks - people who had not been part of the fashnable St Petersburg salons before the revolutn and who were not wele guts of the "aristocrats" after the 1920s, German Travti theatre - which men drs as women and vice versa - beme popular among Soviet gay men. Before the revolutn, Leifert was a supplier to the imperial urt and he also ma stum for the dancers of the Marisky then all me to an endAfter Afanasy Shr's plot to ensnare "unter-revolutnari" wh his spectacular gay marriage ceremony, there were no more high-profile weddgs or arrts like this the 1920s.

MAXIM RSIA'S LIST OF 'GAYS WE RPECT' PRAIS LGBT STARS WHO 'REMA REAL MEN'

Petrograd, 1916-1917Those same assertns were repeated the early 1930s, as well as forced nfsns obtaed by the secret Case of the Lengrad Homosexuals led to the re-cln of the article outlawg homosexualy the new Crimal Co of 1934 and Rsia's short-lived tolerance of gay rights fally me to an Khoroshilova was speakg to BBC Rsian's Anna on this story. Rsian activists announced the first ernment-permted Gay Pri march, but ls than 24-hours later, lol officials said they would not let the event go ahead, even a town wh a populatn of only seven ial announcement, ma by one of the untry's most famo LGBT rights activists, followed a seri of bids om mpaigners to hold a Pri event Rsia, this rponse to an applitn for holdg a Pri event the cy of Novoulyanovsk, the founr of Gay Rsia, Nikolai Alekseev, said he received a letter stctg him the event uld take place if he moved outsi the cy. May Zemfira live this live (crappy but so raw and lively) rerdg of Zemfira performg “Sneg” wearg ripped jeans, a red t-shirt wh no bra, sually smokg a cigarette bee she is that kd of by Aslan AhmadovBORIS MOISEEVBoris is a man we should hail and celebrate bee, unlike an enormo amount of queer people hidg behd a mask and lyg, he stepped up and said: “I am homosexual.

Proment poets this group clud Nikolai Kliuev (1884-1937), Mara Tsvetaeva (1892-1941), Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) and Sofia Parnok (1885-1933), who was scribed as the “Rsian Sappho” – th, for a brief perd, beg lbian or gay was no longer an inty that had to be hidn, but one which uld be theoretilly openly celebrated.

The Gay Sunshe article was later clud the 1993 anthology Gay Roots: Twenty Years of Gay Sunshe: An Anthology of Gay History, Sex, Polics, and Culture eded by Wston Leyland wh substantial addnal materials add unr the tle “ Rsia’s Gay History and Lerature om the Eleventh to the Twentieth Centuri.

RSIAN ACTOR IVAN OKHLOBYST: ‘I WOULD PUT ALL THE GAYS ALIVE INTO AN OVEN’

The removal of legal penalti for homosexualy by the Bolsheviks 1917 as part of the elimatn of the Imperial Crimal Co should, his view, be seen as a polil event occurrg a plex environment of fluenc as diverse as the ways which the Rsian medil muny fed and managed homosexualy as a phenomenon and the history of prev attempts to legally addrs same-sex behavr.

1917 RSIAN REVOLUTN: THE GAY MUNY'S BRIEF WDOW OF EEDOM

The ia of restg social attus towards men and women attracted to their own genr which formed a central part of the work of the German lbian and gay movement the first s of the twentieth century had no visible unterpart Rsian society, due part to the majory of the populatn livg outsi urban centers where agatn for such change uld be visible and effective.

RSIAN GAY MICIANS — WHERE ARE THEY?

Of particular tert is the sectn “After the Repeal “, which looks at the actual suatn for lbians and gays the areas of eedom of exprsn, eedom of associatn and assembly, eedom om cel and unual punishments (such as imprisonment and forced psychiatric re), the right to privacy, and the limed optns for former prisoners to ga legal rehabilatn and damag.

Among the LGBT topics discsed is the appearance of Tema, the first gay and lbian newspaper, found by Roman Kal, and background on historian and soclogist Igor Kon, whose book The Sexual Revolutn Rsia: om the Age of the Czars to Today would be published 1995 by the Free Prs as an English translatn. ) Kon scrib the attus toward and legal limatns on homosexual behavr the society of prerevolutnary Rsia then clus as an issue of sexualy durg the succsive polil revolutns enacted to create the Soviet Unn, Most of the tailed discsn on the suatn of gays and lbians after 1933 is found the seventh chapter “Comg Out Into Chaos “whose verage extends up to 1993.

IN RSIAN POP CULTURE, IT'S 50 SHAS OF GAY

A key pot of Engelste’s say is the tailed exploratn of how Rsian attus and iologi towards homosexualy (both social and legal) had veloped up to the time of the Revolutn and their evolutn wh the new socialist system after the publitn of the new crimal 1922 until the re-crimalizatn of sodomy 1933.

KARèN SHAYAN WANTS TO INSPIRE LGBTQ RSIANS TO COME OUT—WH SOME CELEBRY HELPBRAVEON HIS POPULAR YOUTUBE TALK SHOW, KARèN SHAYAN TERVIEWS CELEBRI LIKE CYNTHIA NIXON AND BILLY PORTER. HE HOP THEIR EXPERIENC HELP SPIRE LGBTQ RSIANS TO E OUT.ANNA NEMTSOVAUPDATED MAY 23, 2020 10:02PM EDT / PUBLISHED MAY 23, 2020 5:12AM EDT ANNA NEMTSOVA/THE DAILY BEASTMOSCOW—THERE ARE MANY BRAVE EE-THKERS RSIA BUT ONLY ONE STRAIGHT TALK WH GAY PEOPLE, A THOUGHTFUL YOUTUBE TALK SHOW BY KARèN SHAYAN, A MOSW-BASED EDOR AND WRER. TO ENURAGE RSIAN CELEBRI TO E OUT, SHAYAN PUBLISH TERVIEWS WH THE WORLD’S LEADG LGBTQ ARTISTS, PHILOSOPHERS, ACTORS, WRERS, AND SCIENTISTS, A SERI OF STRAIGHTFORWARD NVERSATNS. HE IS A BROAD-CHTED MAN WH BIG, TELLIGENT EY AND A SCERE SE. IT IS EASY TO OPEN UP TO SHAYAN—HIS TERVIEWE REVEAL THEIR MOST TRMATIZG, CHALLENGG STORI OF CLASH WH HOMOPHOB, AND SHARE PERSONAL WAYS OF VELOPG STRONG VOIC THEIR PROFSNAL FIELDS. SHAYAN, WHO IS 39, HAS NEVER KEPT HIS HOMOSEXUALY A SECRET, WHICH IS UNUAL FOR A PUBLIC PERSON RSIA. HIS CIRCLE OF IENDS, LLEAGU, AND MOSW TELLECTUALS EMBRACE HIS TALENTS AND IENDSHIP. BUT BACK HIS SIBERIAN HOMETOWN OF IRKUTSK, SHAYAN EXPERIENCED HUIATN—AND FEAR IS NO STRANGER TO HIM.  “RSIAN GAY PEOPLE, GAY CELEBRI, ARE VISIBLE. NOBODY KNOWS HOW THEY LIVE, WHAT THEY CREATE, WHAT THEY ACHIEVE AS PROFSNALS, AND HOW SUCCSFUL THEY ARE ” IN SPE OF THE HORRIFIC PERSECUTNS AND VLENT ATTACKS ON LGBTQ PEOPLE RSIA, SHAYAN IS A STRONG BELIEVER THAT THERE IS HOPE TO LIBERATE PEOPLE OM FEAR THROUGH TN. “IGNORANCE AND DIFFERENCE ARE THE KEY REASONS BEHD THE WORST HOMOPHOBIA,” HE TOLD THE DAILY BEAST ON A RECENT AFTERNOON. “RSIAN GAY PEOPLE, GAY CELEBRI, ARE VISIBLE. NOBODY KNOWS HOW THEY LIVE, WHAT THEY CREATE, WHAT THEY ACHIEVE AS PROFSNALS, AND HOW SUCCSFUL THEY ARE THEIR OWN UNTRY.”SHAYAN SAYS THAT FEAR OF LOSG PRTIGE, MONEY OR ACCS TO A BIG DIENCE WERE THE REASON NO MASTREAM CELEBRI ADVOTED FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE ANTI-GAY PURG CHECHNYA FOR STANCE, WHEN A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WERE MURRED AND TAED, AND MANY TORTURED. ANNA NEMTSOVA/THE DAILY BEAST “TO RSIAN CELEBRI G OUT MEANS A POLIL MSAGE, A MAND FOR HAVG CERTA RIGHTS,” SHAYAN TOLD THE DAILY BEAST. “BUT A PUBLIC G-OUT WOULD MEAN AN IMMEDIATE HUGE LOSS OF ACCS TO THE NCERT HALLS.”TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND HELP TO OPEN MDS, SHAYAN TRAVELED TO THE UNED STAT TO SPEAK TO FIGUR CLUDG STARS LIKE CYNTHIA NIXON AND BILLY PORTER, THOR GARRARD CONLEY, PRODUCER BCE COHEN AND GION LCHFIELD, EDOR--CHIEF OF MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW.MORE THAN ONE LN PEOPLE HAVE VIEWED HIS BLOG ON YOUTUBE LS THAN THREE MONTHS. “THE IA OF THE PROJECT IS TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTN OF A BROAR DIENCE AND EXPOSE ALL THE EXISTG MYTHS AROUND LGBTQ PEOPLE,” SHAYAN TOLD THE DAILY BEAST ON A RECENT AFTERNOON.“SCE AS SOON AS PEOPLE HEAR THE WORD ‘GAY’ THE RSIAN MEDIA AGENDA, ALWAYS OM TWO POL—EHER OM HOMOPHOB AND STATE PROPAGANDA LLG TO BRG THE SOVIET CRIMAL LAW BACK TO THE LEGISLATN OR OM LGBT ACTIVISTS, WHO E THE WORD THE NTEXT OF THEIR FIGHT, VLATED RIGHTS OR CLASH WH POLICE. THE ARE TWO RADIL NTEXTS, WHILE REALY, SEVERAL LN RSIAN LGBTQ PEOPLE ARE MUTED, THEY ARE NOT REPRENTED THE PUBLIC SPACE.”SOME HAVE CRICIZED HIM FOR ONLY TERVIEWG SUCCSFUL LGBTQ PEOPLE, BUT SHAYAN SAID HE WAS NOT TRYG TO “REHABILATE” THE IMAGE OF LGBTQ PEOPLE FOCG ON FAMO PEOPLE. “THAT WOULD BE A VERY SOVIET APPROACH.”SHAYAN IS SGLE, AND A GAY PARENT OF TWO BOYS, AGED 9 AND ONE-AND-A-HALF, NCEIVED WH LBIAN MOTHERS. HIS OLR SON LIV WH HIS MOTHER KYIV. BEFORE COVID-19 SHUT DOWN THE UNTRY, HE TRAVELED TO SEE HIM ONCE A MONTH, AND ALSO BROUGHT HIM TO MOSW FOR SCHOOL BREAKS. WHEN HE STARTED HIS BLOG EARLIER THIS YEAR THE MOTHER OF HIS OLR SON ASKED SHAYAN IF WAS SAFE FOR THEIR SON TO E TO MOSW. SHE WAS NOT NCERNED ABOUT VLENCE OF HOMOPHOB SO MUCH AS STATE AGENCI TAKG THEIR SON AWAY. “EVERYBODY IS SRED OF THE RSIAN JUVENILE JTICE SYSTEM,” SAID SHAYAN. “THEY E THE BIGGT FEAR FOR THE ENTIRE RSIAN LGBTQ MUNY. NONE OF THOSE WH CHILDREN N DARE TO BE POLILLY ACTIVE, THEY ARE MOST VULNERABLE,” HE TOLD THE DAILY BEAST.LAST YEAR, RSIA’S INVTIGATIVE COMMTEE STARTED A LAWSU NCERNG TWO GAY MEN, ANDREY EROVFEYEV AND ANDREY VAGANOV, AND THEIR TWO ADOPTED CHILDREN. THE FAY HAD TO PE PERSECUTN BY FLEEG TO THE UNED STAT. “BUT SPE OF THE PRSURE, THOANDS OF GAY PEOPLE NTUE TO RAISE CHILDREN RSIA,” SAID SHAYAN. “I RECEIVE THANK YOU NOT OM LBIAN AND GAY UPL, WHO HAVE LTLE CHILDREN.”  A SON OF SCIENTISTS AND A BCHEMIST BY TN, SHAYAN HAS ALWAYS BEEN TERTED THE IA OF TN AS A KEY TO EEDOM. MISRMATN AND THE DISTORTN OF HISTORY RSIAN PROPAGANDA ANNOY HIM. “UNFORTUNATELY, RSIANS DO NOT KNOW THEIR OWN HISTORY:  HOMOPHOBIA IS ONLY 300 YEARS OLD. BEFORE PETER THE GREAT BEGAN TO EXECUTE HOMOSEXUALS THE ARMY, PYG GERMAN PUNISHMENT L, GAY PEOPLE ENJOYED RIGHTS RSIA,” SHAYAN SAID.BEFORE THE COVID-19 SHUTDOWN, MOSW’S LGBTQ POPULATN ENJOYED BARS, CLUBS AND DATG WEBS, NOT MUCH DIFFERENT OM WHAT LGBTQ PEOPLE HAVE THE WT, EXCEPT THAT HERE THE CULTURE EXISTS UNRGROUND. THEN TERNATNAL FLIGHTS WERE NCELLED, AND LGBTQ PEOPLE WERE WORRIED ABOUT BEG ABLE TO PE THE UNTRY IF A NEW MPAIGN OF PERSECUTN BEGAN.IN THE MIDST OF THE RONAVIS PANMIC, LEVADA CENTER, AN PENNT POLLG AGENCY, PUBLISHED NEW HORRIFYG POLLS: 18 PERCENT OF RSIANS WANTED TO SEE LGBT PEOPLE “LIQUIDATED.” SHAYAN ADMTED THAT FOR A FEW SENDS HE FELT “ANIMAL FEAR” UPON SEEG THE FIGUR. SHAYAN TERVIEWED LEVADA’S SOCLOGISTS ABOUT THEIR STUDY. IT TURNED OUT THAT SCE 1989 THE SOCLOGIL CENTER HAS BEEN ASKG THE SAME QUTNS ABOUT PEDOPHIL, MURRERS, AND DG ADDICTS (AS IF GROUPG LGBTQ PEOPLE ALONGSI THE GROUPS MAKE ANY KD OF SENSE). BY “LIQUIDATG,” THE SOCLOGISTS TOLD SHAYAN, SOME PEOPLE ALSO MEANT SOCIAL ISOLATN. “IF WE APPLY THE UAL STATISTICS, THERE MIGHT BE UP TO 10 LN LBIANS, GAY, TRANSGENR, QUEER OR BISEXUAL PEOPLE OUR UNTRY” RSIA’S FAMO LGBTQ PEOPLE KNOW EACH OTHER OR OF EACH OTHER, BUT PREFER TO NEVER SPEAK PUBLICLY ABOUT THE HORRIFYG S OF HOMOPHOBIA. RSIA DO NOT KNOW EXACTLY HOW MANY LGBT PEOPLE HAS, SHAYAN SAID, “BUT IF WE APPLY THE UAL STATISTICS, THERE MIGHT BE UP TO 10 LN LBIANS, GAY, TRANSGENR, QUEER OR BISEXUAL PEOPLE OUR UNTRY.” THE FAMO ANTI-LGBTQ “PROPAGANDA” LAW OF 2013 BANS THE “PROMOTN OF NONTRADNAL SEXUAL RELATNS TO MORS”; GAY PEOPLE ARE FORBIDN TO MARRY, BARRED OM ADOPTG CHILDREN OR G SURROGACY. THGS ARE GROWG WORSE, ACRDG TO SOVA CENTER, A GROUP MONORG HATE CRIM RSIA. THE NUMBER OF ATTACKS ON LGBTQ PEOPLE CREASED LAST YEAR.    “OH, MAYBE THIS IS SOMETHG I REALLY SHOULD NSIR”SHAYAN HAS BEEN PUBLISHG ARTICL RSIA’S BT MAGAZ AND EDG THOUGHTFUL POLIL BOOKS, CLUDG THE BTSELLER ALL THE KREML’S MEN. ANNA SHPAKOVA, A PHOTO CURATOR AND EDOR WHO WORKED WH SHAYAN ON SEVERAL PROJECTS MOSW, SAYS SHE UNRSTANDS WHY PEOPLE OPEN UP TO HIM. “KARèN CREAT A SECURE ENVIRONMENT FOR YOU, HE ACTUALLY DO RE WHOUT PRETENSE. I FELT FORTABLE AND SAFE WHEN HE WAS AROUND, WHICH IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE WORKG ENVIRONMENT,” SHPAKOVA TOLD THE DAILY BEAST. IN HIS TERVIEWS, SHAYAN MAK THE POT THAT G OUT WAS NEVER EASY EVEN FOR THE MOST OUTGOG AMERIN STARS. CYNTHIA NIXON SPOKE ABOUT HER TRANSGENR SON, EXPLAED WHAT GENR ISSU MEANT TO HER, AND HOW SHE HAD TO NSULT A PSYCHOLOGIST TO UNRSTAND HERSELF BETTER. NIXON IS VERY POPULAR RSIA; LNS SAW HER SEX THE CY, WHICH WAS BROADST ON A MUCH MORE TOLERANT MEDIA TWO S AGO.MOST RSIAN LGBTQ PEOPLE WHO OPPOSE THE IA OF G OUT TELL SHAYAN: “WHY SHOULD I E OUT OF MY FORT ZONE?” COHEN MAK THE POT AN TERVIEW FOR SHAYAN’S BLOG, THAT G OUT, ON A PERSONAL AND LLECTIVE SLE IS POLILLY POWERFUL—A PRCIPLE MOST FAMOLY VOICED BY LGBTQ RIGHTS IN HARVEY MILK. “TEN PERCENT OF RSIANS ARE LGBTQ, WHETHER THEY LIKE OR NOT; SO WHEN 1 PERCENT IS OUT, THE 9 PERCENT SAY, ‘WHAT DO MATTER? THIS IS SUCH A SMALL GROUP ANYWAY, HOW AM I HURTG ANYTHG?’ AND THEN THE MORE PEOPLE E OUT, THE MORE OF A VOICE THERE IS AND THE MORE CHANGE YOU N GET DONE, THE MORE OTHER PEOPLE, WHO AREN’T OUT YET, START TO THK, ‘OH, MAYBE THIS IS SOMETHG I REALLY SHOULD NSIR.’” DURG THE COVID-19 SHUTDOWN I TERVIEWED SHAYAN A URTYARD OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. HE GRABBED ANY AVAILABLE BAR TO DO PULL UPS OR VERY IMPRSIVE LEG LIFTS. ATHLETIC SHAYAN, A MARATHON NNER, SUCCSFULLY BEAT THE RONAVIS AFTER HE WAS FECTED UPON HIS RETURN OM NEW YORK FEBARY. WHEN THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK H MOSW HARD, MORE THAN 150,000 PEOPLE BEME SICK WH THE VIS. SHAYAN BEME A BLOOD DONOR. “IRONILLY, RSIAN GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT BANNED OM DONATG BLOOD, UNLIKE SOME UNTRI, LIKE AMERI,” HE SAID. THIS IS AT LEAST ONE RIGHT LGBTQ RSIANS ARE NOT PRIVED OF, AND SHAYAN WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MOSW RINTS TO PUT TO E THE PANMIC. IT DO NOT SURPRISE HIS IENDS, WHO ALWAYS THOUGHT OF HIM AS OF A SUPERMAN.  ANNA NEMTSOVA

The foc on the retrieval of Rsia’s tradn of LGBT wrg ntued 1998 wh The Columbia Anthology of Gay Lerature: Readgs om Wtern Antiquy to the Prent Day, which featured a sectn on “ Erotic Revolutnari: Rsian Lerature ( 1836-1922) wh selectns om the wrgs of Alexanr Phk, Nikolai Klyuev, Sergei Esen and Mikhail Kuzm. 1998 also saw the acceptance of a doctoral this at the Universy of Toronto wrten by Daniel Healey, Homosexual Dire Revolutnary Rsia: Public and Hidn Transcripts, 1917-1941, later issued as Homosexual Dire Revolutnary Rsia: the Regulatn of Sexual and Genr Dissent by the Universy of Chigo Prs 2001. Healey’s work was plemented 1999 by Lrie Essig’s thoughtful study Queer Rsia: A Story of Sex, Self, and the Other, based upon rearch done primarily 1994 and centered on “that moment when objects of expert knowledge and public hostily beme subjects of their own sir “(Essig: xi), the emergence of some lbians and gay men om visibily to kdle a public dialogue on homosexuals for the first time sce the Silver Age (1905-1917).

” (Schluter 2002: 7) The stutnal settgs for LGBT life Rsia examed are dividual, societal and legal, wh the first noted as “sufficient only for promotg the sense among Soviet homosexuals that they are a distct ‘people’…not enough to spire their ordated soc-polil actn or.. Their public self-intifitn as homosexuals, ” (Schluter 2002: 7) Taken together, the societal ntext of burecracy, legal rtrat, mographic patterns and geographic lotns where gay and lbian social life was possible did not allow for the formatn of a “ gay muny “ the sense ed Wtern gay life.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOG ON WH RSIA AND GAYS?: AN EXPLAER

Schluter utns that, “ sce the general enomic, polil, societal and cultural ndns …the former Soviet Unn have generally not veloped well enough for even the anizatns of “mastream “ social groups to functn effectively, …those of the homosexual mory are not likely to materialize-or at least to be very succsful- the near future. ” His rponse is a clear and valuable asssment of the ways homosexualy was thought of Rsia ( both imperial and Soviet tim) and how the perceptn of Rsia as a natn sentially nocent of such behavrs (as ntrasted wh the civilizatn of Wtern Europe and the perceived tolerance of same-sex practic Central Asia) shaped reactns to them.

An excellent summary of three of his books published Mosw between 1999 and 2003 (cludg Lunnyi Svet Na Zare: Liki i Maski Odnopoloi Liubvi’ [Moonlight at dawn: fac and masks of same-sex love) was provid 2005 by Brian Jam Baer his article for the Journal of Homosexualy “Igor Kon: The Makg of a Rsian Sexologist. And 2009, Brian Jam Baer’s Other Rsias: Homosexualy and the Crisis of Post-Soviet Inty explored” the often extravagant disurse on the subject that has been generated om the late 1980s through Vladimir Put’s princy…that may not only fluence the ways which homosexual-intified men and women…image themselv and nstct their inti but also say somethg about the ways Rsians general-and Rsian men particular-image their post-Soviet inty, their cultural prediment.

ON THE MOSW METRO AND BEG GAY

While foced chiefly on the natns of the former East European bloc, also clus chapters by Kev Moss speakg of the “Straight Eye for the Queer Guy: Gay Male Visibily Post-Soviet Rsian Films “and Brian Baer’s “Now You See It: Gay (In) Visibily and the Performance of Post-Soviet Inty.

The third sectn of text, “Journeys and Interviews Rsia, “ begs wh her arrival Lengrad July 1991 for the first gay and lbian film ftival and follows wh -pth terviews and lorful stori of the women and men she met there and her travels to vis them ci across the untry cludg Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Mosw. If anythg, John may be facg a harsher backlash the Wt, where some gay-rights activists have cricized him for proceedg wh his Rsian tour at a time when many artists wh a strong gay fan base, cludg Cher, Lady Gaga, and Madonna, have eher nceled appearanc or ed their ncerts as a platform for cricizg the Rsian anti-LGBT legislatn.

The impendg Wter Olympics, to beg the Rsian cy of Sochi Febary, has only creased the lls for foreign athlet, artists, and tourists to take a prcipled stance agast Rsia and Put -- a man whose growg llectn of shirtls photographs, has been acknowledged, have set off some homoerotic alarm bells of their own. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

RSIA'S LARGT GAY NIGHTCLUB STRIV TO BE A HAVEN DPE HORRIFIC ATTACKS

Moiseev is an stutn and a hoehold favore, even though he's openly homosexual and most of his performanc are flamboyant even by the standards of a pri this Rsia, where only 16 percent of people say homosexuals should be accepted by society and where a new law aims to prevent publicly advotg "alternative" sexuali.