#1
Posted: 2/8/14 at 1:18pm
GQ article on what it's like to be gay in Russia right now
#2
Posted: 2/8/14 at 4:32pm
That's terrifying and heartbreaking.
#3
Posted: 2/8/14 at 5:26pm
I can't imagine...
Terrifying and heartbreaking, as Reg said, and it makes me so angry.
Terrifying and heartbreaking, as Reg said, and it makes me so angry.
"Two drifters off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. . ."
#4
Posted: 2/8/14 at 8:03pm
It is so eerie for me to read an article like that and realize that 100 to 125 years ago, my grandparents had to flee Russia, because a previous regime treated Jews the way this current regime treats gays.
And yet I long to visit Russia, to see Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the cities where my grandparents and their grandparents lived: Rostov-on-the-Don, Minsk and a small shtetl outside of Minsk called Babruysk, my own personal Anatevka.
How, I wonder, would they treat me if I visited?
And yet I long to visit Russia, to see Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the cities where my grandparents and their grandparents lived: Rostov-on-the-Don, Minsk and a small shtetl outside of Minsk called Babruysk, my own personal Anatevka.
How, I wonder, would they treat me if I visited?
#5
Posted: 2/8/14 at 10:21pm
It must be a source of heartache for you, PalJoey.
I'll go with you... I've longed to visit those cities, as well.
I'll go with you... I've longed to visit those cities, as well.
"Two drifters off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. . ."
Updated On: 2/8/14 at 10:21 PM
#6
Posted: 2/8/14 at 10:26pm
Of course Belarus is its own special nightmare. My beloved Belarusian masseur goes back with his wife and kids to visit every year and it's hard to get him to talk about it. Besides the suitcases they need for themselves on their extended visits, they have to bring TONS of stuff for his relatives.
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#7
Posted: 2/8/14 at 11:56pm
Relatives of mine bring over an orphaned child from Belarus every year to spend Christmas with them (through the charity Chernobyl Children International) and they are always devastated and heartbroken to have to send them back come January.
Beyoncé is not an ally. Actions speak louder than words, Mrs. Carter. #Dubai #$$$
Updated On: 2/8/14 at 11:56 PM
#8
Posted: 2/9/14 at 12:06am
That's beautiful, Jay.
I had a conversation with a ballet dancer from Belarus who lives in the US now. He's probably no more than 25 years old, so he grew up in the country that was no longer part of the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation. I told him that three of my grandparents had come from Belarus: one from Minsk and two from a small town nearby. He asked me the name of it and when I said Babruysk, his eyes lit up and he said, "My mother's family lives in Babruysk! They have always lived in Babruysk! It is not small town now. It is important industrial city."
I wondered if his great-grandparents knew my grandparents' families, how felt about the Jews killed in the pogroms, the Jews who stayed, the Jews of Babryusk who were killed by the Nazis--by firing squads in groups of 30 when the labor camp grew overcrowded. Did his family help the Jews? Did they care when they were liquidated?
And who lives now in my great-grandmother's home?
At any rate, I didn't ask him any of those questions. I congratulated him on his performance.
It's no picnic for LGBT people in Belarus, but it's no pogrom either. I think things are marginally better there than in Russia or the Ukraine.
I had a conversation with a ballet dancer from Belarus who lives in the US now. He's probably no more than 25 years old, so he grew up in the country that was no longer part of the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation. I told him that three of my grandparents had come from Belarus: one from Minsk and two from a small town nearby. He asked me the name of it and when I said Babruysk, his eyes lit up and he said, "My mother's family lives in Babruysk! They have always lived in Babruysk! It is not small town now. It is important industrial city."
I wondered if his great-grandparents knew my grandparents' families, how felt about the Jews killed in the pogroms, the Jews who stayed, the Jews of Babryusk who were killed by the Nazis--by firing squads in groups of 30 when the labor camp grew overcrowded. Did his family help the Jews? Did they care when they were liquidated?
And who lives now in my great-grandmother's home?
At any rate, I didn't ask him any of those questions. I congratulated him on his performance.
It's no picnic for LGBT people in Belarus, but it's no pogrom either. I think things are marginally better there than in Russia or the Ukraine.
Updated On: 2/9/14 at 12:06 AM
#9
Posted: 2/9/14 at 8:50am
3 of 4 of my grandparents hail from Russia. How sad for me, that I have never felt any kinship for the country. I have nothing but negative feelings and imagery from the stories I grew up with, from the news of my youth and now re-inforced by the current climate.
I do marvel at the beauty of their architecture.
I do marvel at the beauty of their architecture.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#10
Posted: 2/9/14 at 11:08am
I don't think things are so bad for the LGBT people in the Ukraine (comparatively speaking of course). They are fighting to be integrated in the EU and are well aware that homophobia would prevent them from this goal. But Russia, OTOH, is rushing full-speed back into the Middle Ages.
#11
Posted: 2/9/14 at 11:22am
Vice has a new(ish) 5-part series on gay life in today's Russia. Each part is just 5 or 6 minutes long. Sad stuff indeed, but the bravery of the men and women who willingly appear in this film is heartening.
Such a shame that a country that has produced so much great literature, music and dance (a lot of it from gay artists) is taking these steps back into the dark ages. Putin certainly knows what he's doing when it comes to creating a national distraction, I'll give him (and his cold, black heart) that.
VICE - Gay Russia Series
Such a shame that a country that has produced so much great literature, music and dance (a lot of it from gay artists) is taking these steps back into the dark ages. Putin certainly knows what he's doing when it comes to creating a national distraction, I'll give him (and his cold, black heart) that.
VICE - Gay Russia Series
