Being Gay and Living in Russia
While the Russian government is allowing gays to be killed and tortured, the LGBT community in Russia is trying to protect themselves. Homophobia is at an all time high. The gay community has even had to form their own taxi service because it is so unsafe there.
last year, Russia’s LGBT community went from being a stigmatized fringe
group to full-blown enemies of the state. Homophobia becoming
legislation means it’s now not only accepted in Russia but actively
encouraged, which has led to a depressing rise in homophobic attacks and
murders.
The main aim of the law, which essentially bans any
public display of homosexuality, is to prevent minors from getting the
impression that being gay is normal. Which means that, if you’re young
and gay in Putin’s Russia, you’re ostracized and cut off from any kind
of legal support network.
In part 1 we get a ride with Artem, a
young driver for Moscow’s gay taxi service “Our Taxi”, meet Nikita, a
17-year-old activist who has been labeled a “propagandist” because of
his LGBT rights YouTube channel, and Yulia, a young lesbian who started
LGBT self defense classes after her favorite gay bar in Moscow was
attacked by about 20 armed men in October 2012.
