Steam Workshop::Artem Gay

Contents:

• AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY, A RSIAN VLIST'S NEW REALY
• ARTEM GAY
• HOW I TOLD RSIA I WAS GAY
• IN CHIGO, GAY RSIAN VLIST FDS EEDOM, FAY
• ARTEM KAL, RSIAN GAY ACTIVIST, BEATEN BY LOL NEO-NAZI ON CAMERA (GRAPHIC VIDEO)
• GAY RSIAN VLIST OUT VIO — CHALLENGG HIS FAY AND UNTRY

AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY, A RSIAN VLIST'S NEW REALY

A 23-year-old, Rsian-born vlist named Artem Kolov is pturg ternatnal attentn after postg a YouTube vio which he out as gay. "In my fay, " Kolov says his vio, "I often heard that all gays should be stroyed, that they should be bombed, and that if anyone our fay turns out to be gay, my fay should kill them wh their bare hands.

Growg up, he says, "I never heard anythg good about gay people.

ARTEM GAY

All I knew was that gays are the people who everyone should hate. I was sred bee I knew that I was gay. It seemed that I was the only gay person Rsia.

"They are ashamed to have a gay son and brother, " he says. Intertg that my fay is proud of me for beg a vlist, and is so ashamed of me for beg gay, though both of the are parts of my inty.

He has received many posive msag om iends and strangers alike, but he said that he is aaid of beg arrted if he returns to Rsia, unr enforcement of a vaguely word but broad "anti-gay propaganda" law. Earlier this month, there were reports that more than 100 gay men Chechnya were arrted and tortured, wh some of them reportedly killed by police.

HOW I TOLD RSIA I WAS GAY

Beg gay Rsia: 'You never talk about '. At age 5, Artem Kolov, the son of two Rsian pastors livg outsi Mosw, realized he was gay.

As the son of two Rsian Pentestal pastors Maloyaroslavetz, a small town an hour outsi Mosw, I grew up believg beg gay was an abomatn – a s that guaranteed me a one-way ticket to hell.

IN CHIGO, GAY RSIAN VLIST FDS EEDOM, FAY

For as far back as I n remember, I’d s church and listen as my father and other elrs of my church preached homophobia to their loyal ngregants. Though was often a taboo subject to explicly discs (“gay” was nsired an unholy word), when they did, they’d say that the Uned Stat is sufferg bee of s large gay populatn. All the mass shootgs and terrorism s people experience uld be lked to the ss of the homosexual muny, their view.

On televisn and magaz, mentators would refer to homosexualy as a “Wtern disease, ” one that turned upstandg Rsian cizens to generat. But I knew I was gay. In fact, I’d known I was gay sce I was 5 years old.

Time – and a journey across three untri, which exposed me to a world which beg gay was acceptable and even embraced.

ARTEM KAL, RSIAN GAY ACTIVIST, BEATEN BY LOL NEO-NAZI ON CAMERA (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

There, I was exposed to a more liberal society – one where beg gay wasn’t entirely sful or shameful. The Christian nservative me was very much still at war wh the gay part of my inty. There I began to mgle wh other members of the gay muny, and even started openly datg my (now fiancé) boyiend.

Growg up Rsia, I stayed silent bee I uldn’t envisn an alternative universe where beg gay was socially or religly acceptable. I didn’t know any “out” gay people my school or muny. There were no gay characters the books I read or the movi I watched.

Not only were gay people on TV, movi and active on social media, but they are also given a voice and a platform to speak their tth. In puttg my vio on YouTube, I was hopg to reach those sred young Rsian men and women, the on who’ve been told homosexualy is a fate worse than ath, and expose them to a new realy – one where some Rsians, myself clud, are gay and survivg.

GAY RSIAN VLIST OUT VIO — CHALLENGG HIS FAY AND UNTRY

And while the ernment ntrols the media and regularly censors the Inter, my story – a form of “gay propaganda” unr current Rsian law – has still managed to be viewed by old iends back home. But I don’t want other closeted gay Rsians to share my negative experience.

Heterosexual people still make homophobic slurs, such as “that’s so gay, ” and many neighborhoods, ’s not safe for gay upl to walk down the street holdg hands. But at least the ernment protects the gay muny; so much so that I uld take the risk of makg a vio and puttg on a platform for all to see whout fearg for my life. One day this sprg, Artem Kolov set up a vio mera the Chigo townhoe where he liv, sat down a chair and started talkg to the young gay people of Rsia.

"In my fay, " he said on the vio, "I often heard that all gays should be stroyed, that they should be bombed and that if anyone our fay turns out to be gay, my fay should kill them wh their bare hands. But he told himself that if anyone did, was kids Rsia, where beg openly gay n be dangero and discrimatn is mon and rponse to the vio has proved him right.