The past five years have wnsed an explosn of tert the histori of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer people the Soviet Unn and s succsor stat. This special issue extends our unrstandg of the history of queer experience the late Soviet Unn and s succsor stat. Its eight articl balance attentn between the Rsian “re” and republics on the “periphery” of the USSR: Geia, Kyrgyzstan, and Latvia. One article draws attentn to Italy, and t...
Contents:
GAY THE USSR
Wh Rsia set to host next year’s Wter Olympics, ternatnal attentn is focsed on the untry’s relatnship wh s gay and lbian cizens. * homosexuality in soviet *
This say exam the trial of a group of homosexual men and the vtigatn of a lbian uple, both om 1922, which show that Soviet urts tried to reprs sexual variatn even when homosexualy was not a crime. By: Alfonso CasalThe fact that homosexualy was crimally sanctned unr Soviet law is somethg that is often thrown the face of munists general, and ed to “discred” Comra Stal particular. What needs to be stated is that Soviet legal and medil opn on this qutn was no different than what was generally accepted the world at large, namely, that homosexualy was a psycho-sexual disorr, a form of mental illns.
Addnally, there were arguments ma that attempted to tie homosexualy to fascism – pecially nsirg that many of Hler’s Brownshirts were as this may seem, needs to be seen historil ntext. Moreover, I thk should also be poted out that, spe the view that homosexualy was a mental disorr, the actual law qutn, Article 121 of the Soviet Crimal Co, was pretty much only enforced s of pedophilia, wh some 800 – 1000 prosecutns annually. Our laws proceed om the prciple of protectn of society and therefore untenance punishment only those stanc when juvenil and mors are the objects of homosexual tert … while regnizg the rrectns of homosexual velopment … our society b prophylactic and other theraptic measur wh all the necsary ndns for makg the nflicts that afflict homosexuals as pals as possible and for rolvg their typil trangement om society wh the llective—Sereisky, Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1930, p.
THE HISTORY OF HOMOSEXUALY RSIA: OM SOVIET SEX CHANG TO GAY GULAGS
The facts, are a ltle different:“The iative for revotn of antihomosexual legislatn, followg the Revolutn of Febary 1917, had e, not om the Bolsheviks but om the Cats (Constutnal mocrats) and the anarchists (Karlsky, 1989).
The Rsian Feratn crimal s for 1922 and 1926 did not mentn homosexualy, although the rrpondg laws remaed force plac where homosexualy was most prevalent – the Islamic republics of Azerbaijan, Turkmenia, and Uzbekistan, as well as Christian Geia. Our laws proceed om the prciple of protectn of society and therefore untenance punishment only those stanc when juvenil and mors are the objects of homosexual tert” P. The official stance of Soviet medice and law the 1920s, as reflected by Sereisky’s encyclopedia article, was that homosexualy was a disease that was difficult, perhaps even impossible, to cure.
So “while regnizg the rrectns of homosexual velopment … our society b prophylactic and other theraptic measur wh all the necsary ndns for makg the nflicts that afflict homosexuals as pals as possible and for rolvg their typil trangement om society wh the llective” (Sereisky, 1930, p. When homosexualy do re-enter the Soviet crimal , prosecutns are relatively rare (1, 000 per year out of a populatn of 200 ln) and those that were prosecuted targeted stanc of rape, child abe, and abe of pennt and vulnerable are the FACTS. “The fact that homosexualy was crimally sanctned unr Soviet law is somethg that is often thrown the face of munists general, and ed to “discred” Comra Stal particular.