LGBT identity and their perception in Soviet Union and Russian Federation

Abstract

As many people know Russians are not the gay-friendliest people. But the homophobia did not appear unexpectedly, it was formed by years and decades, the government affected it heavily.

Full text

Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)
Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences
BA Seminar: Building of Identity in Practice and Theory
Anna Volkova
WS 2019/20
Mtr. 99937
Prof. Narimanli Tabriz
LGBT identity and their perception in Soviet Union and Russian
Federation
As many people know Russians are not the gay-friendliest people. But the homophobia did not
appear unexpectedly, it was formed by years and decades, the government affected it heavily. In my
essay I want to pay your attention to the homosexual history during the Soviet time in comparison to
the today’s perception. I will begin with history of homosexuality in Russia and then bring you to
the time of arising of Soviet Union. I want to mention the 20s decade, when the victimization due to
the homosexuality did not start yet. After that I will speak about some arrangement against
homosexual people during the Soviet Union. We will shortly cover the period named “thaw” and
then go to the 90s. Then I want to report about LGBT in Russian Federation and Chechnya. The
main point of my work is the identity of homosexual and LGBT people in Russia and how despite
the very hard times they do not lose themselves and tried to fight for their right to live normal life.
Homosexuality before Soviet Union
Actually till the 18th century the government did not peruse the homosexuality as something wrong.
There did not exist any laws and prohibitions against homosexual relationships. Only in religion
there were paragraphs about sodomy, but it was not as sinful as betrayal or sex before marriage.
Nobody in society put a special attention to it. In the 18th century Peter the First copied the German
law about homosexuality in the military, but it concerned the military and did not relate to the
ordinary people. Russian Elite was pretty tolerant and loyal to homosexual relationships, in
comparison to United Kingdom, Germany and Austria. Accusation in homosexuality was not the
political instrument for government in Russia.
1920s and “sexual revolution”
In the beginning of Soviet Union the situation in the country was very relaxed and people felt

relieved in comparison to the time of absolute monarchy. Especially the 20s was the time of arising
sexual freedom.!“Ideologically, sexual liberation was one of the key weapons in fighting Orthodoxy,
and the old order in general.” (Georgy Manaev, Daniel Chalyan, “How sexual revolution exploded
(and imploded) across 1920s Russia”, May 2018) People tried new types of relationship: polyamory,
sexual relationships beside the marriage and same-sex relationships. Also the law on prosecution of
homosexuals, which had existed for a long time by the imperator, was cancelled. A lot of people
discussed feminism, abortion, role of women. The famous psychologist Wilhelm Reich called this
decade some kind of small “sexual revolution”. Exactly in the 20s appeared the famous ‘glass of
water’-theory. This theory was connected with concept of new women, where the social role of
women as a tradition was hardly criticized by Alexandra Kollontai. But the main point of ‘glass of
water’ was that sex does not have to correlate with any conventions or obligations, “It states that
love (and consequently, sex) should be available to anyone as easily as asking for a glass of water.”
(Georgy Manaev, Daniel Chalyan, “How sexual revolution exploded (and imploded) across 1920s
Russia”, May 2018) So homosexuality in this period of time was not strange or awful. It was seen as
a type of sexual satisfaction.
Fight against sodomy
But “sexual freedom” did not last long. To the end of 20s the Soviet government started to control
people from all sides of their lives. And it referred to the sexual liberation too. Government banned
all information resources, which was nearly connected to sex or sexuality. Nobody spoke about sex
anymore. The deliberate asexuality in media was sometimes hilarious because even scenes of
kissing were cut from movies. Sex disappeared as though it did not even exist in the society. In the
middle of 30s the Soviet government finally got to the LGBT people.!”Finally, by 1934,
homosexuality had been re-criminalized, and a ban on abortion reintroduced (1936)” (Georgy
Manaev, Daniel Chalyan, “How sexual revolution exploded (and imploded) across 1920s Russia”,
May 2018) Although in the law there was no information about lesbians, many lesbians were sent to
mental hospitals by force. “Lesbians and bisexual women were treated not as criminals but rather
as mentally ill and often subjected to medical and psychiatric interventions.” (Richard C.M. Mole,
Introduction to “Soviet and Post-Soviet Sexualities”, 2018)
“For decades to come, sexuality and erotica would be completely shunned by Soviet culture and
society – and considering this, it is no wonder Russian society had become so hypocritical about
sex.” (Georgy Manaev, Daniel Chalyan, “How sexual revolution exploded (and imploded) across

1920s Russia”, May 2018) Lack of information about sex and building of relationships led people to
prejudice, disinformation and misunderstanding. Soviet people were living in the atmosphere of
total control and they were just small “parts” of big system. Women had to give birth and raise
children and men had to work for their family, so were the social roles. For this reason when a
person was not one of these two roles or was different in some other way, she/he was perceived by
the society as strange and not normal. “References to same-sex desire were all but absent in the
Soviet press and removed from all translations of foreign literature, while gatherings of gays and
lesbians in the public sphere were forbidden.” (Richard C.M. Mole, Introduction to “Soviet and
Post-Soviet Sexualities”, 2018)
And there we can speak about rise of big homophobia, which exists even nowadays in Russia and
ex-soviet countries. The idea of homosexuality was always connected with the bourgeoisie and
some kind of depravity, as though homosexual relationships existed only there. Actually only people
from elite had the opportunity to build their own hidden community with secretive gay-clubs, closed
parties and stay safe at the same. That’s why only “rich” homosexuals were visible and many people
tried to relate their orientation to the social status. Soviet party tried to inform people from all sides
about harmful influence of homosexuality on the soviet system. «As homosexuality was constructed
in ideological terms as a form of “decadent bourgeois morality,” which would disappear with the
establishment of communism, the oppression of gay men had “as much to do with their class
backgrounds (as perceived by the regime) as with their homosexuality.” » (Richard C.M. Mole,
Introduction to “Soviet and Post-Soviet Sexualities”, 2018)
In the time of “thaw”, which all people reminisce as a time of weakening of totalitarianism and
tyranny, many spheres as cinematography, science and art received some kind of freedom. But the
victimization of homosexuals did not stop. Due to the flexibility of the law about “sodomy” the
person could be blamed almost without evidence. In order to not be blamed for their sexual
orientation, many homosexuals got married and tried to hide this part of their personality.
Decriminalization of gays and 90s
The improvement in the LGBT situation started only in the beginning of 90s, that means actually in
the end of Soviet Union. International organizations for human rights a lot of times applied to the
Soviet government about the discrimination of homosexuals, but all requests were declined because
of irrelevance. In the 1983 the first organization for equal rights of LGBT occurred in the Soviet
Union. But after 3 years Community for State Security closed it, but the questions of homosexual
discrimination were discussed in media and in public. 90s was a time when people could understand,

western lifestyle was not as bad as it was presented in Soviet Union. A lot of famous persons
supported cancelation of sodomy law.
Finally in the 1993 the decriminalization of sodomy was acclaimed, but actually it did not happened
because of “new, loyal and fair” government. Western (especially European) ideas and ideology
seemed to be the most advantageous for Russian politics, and that’s why they just copied some
things to the Constitution. Although the law was cancelled, victims, who were convicted for
sodomy, were not exonerated and continued to service the punishment. “Even in the liberal 1990s
most Russians considered queerness a phenomenon foreign to their culture, particularly given the
role of Western organizations in the development of an LGBT activist network within the country…”
(Ilaria Parogni, “Transgender Russians Struggle to Take Their Movement Out of the Shadows”,
2016)
As the television was widespread, Russian media promoted patriarchal views among the society. But
in the same time people were getting a lot of information from western media about sex, sexuality.
The most revolutional was the TV-program “About that” («Про это»), where were discussed the
questions of sexuality and relationships, people could write letters with their questions and talk-
show hostess, Yelena Khanga, answered on camera. “She (Yelena Khanga) said that when she
started her show, which for the first time openly confronted topics like H.I.V./AIDS, homosexuality
and workplace sexual harassment, “it was like a bomb went off.””(Michael, Schwirtz, “Revolution?
Da. Sexual? Nyet.”, The New York Times, 2010) It gave people opportunity to get right and
qualitative information about emotional topics. «In all societies, even socially liberal ones, “most
people feel that sexuality belongs to the private space of the home” and as a result “most public
spaces are coded to be heterosexual.”» (Richard C.M. Mole, Introduction to “Soviet and Post-
Soviet Sexualities”, 2018) Up 1999 homosexuality was not seen as sickness more and homosexuals
could “breath” freely. In the magazines for teenagers and young people appeared requests for
searching partner with the same sex. It was the time, when people were as free as never in the Soviet
time.
Russian state positioned itself as democratic government, and it was actually so in first years. People
became freer then they were before. But actually soviet society was not prepared for this kind of
freedom. People could not immediately get the amount of information and new democratic lifestyle,
which they missed out in the years of Soviet regime. The main problem was that government was
not interested in their public and their lives. They did not carry about the education, social problems

and economy. At first it was nice kind of “wind of changes”, but then people felt lost because of the
social and economic problems. For homosexuals it was nice time, they could feel better and stop
hiding.
Due to easy access to unfiltered information, sometimes sources of this information were not
reliable, people from big cities collected a lot of prejudice about LGBT. One of them was that AIDS
and H.I.V. were so widespread in the county because of homosexuals. And there we can find some
“roots” of homophobia nowadays.
LGBT nowadays in Russian Federation
Nowadays the homosexual situation in Russia is pretty strained. People with more conformed and
Soviet values are completely against LGBT, they do not perceive these people as a social group.
“…many lawmakers also believe that homosexuality is a disease that should be treated through
"proper education" and psychological counseling…”(Michael Bohm, “The Roots of Russia's
Homophobia”, 2013) Other people jut do not give any opinion about this theme, they behave as
though homosexuals exist somewhere in other countries, far away from them and this situation does
not touch Russia at all. Manly young generation express themselves tolerant and LGBT-friendly,
maybe they are not fighting actively for equal rights of LGBT, but they do respect choice of
everyone.
But in the majority Russian society is rather homophobic. What did affect it beyond the “total
equality” in Soviet Union? Russian orthodox church had its affect on the situation.!”...the
government, with the clear backing of the Russian Orthodox Church, has the "correct
understanding" — that is, traditional, heterosexual relationships are healthy and normal, while
nontraditional, LGBT sexual relations are perverted and dangerous to society.” (Michael Bohm,
“The Roots of Russia's Homophobia”, 2013) In the Soviet time religion was not on the first place,
but religious people and churches did not disappear with the advent of the Soviet government.
Although atheism was publicized from the government, Christian values were very popular and
many families followed them strictly. Orthodox church was and is very conservative and closed for
any changes. Nowadays patriarch and priests of Russian Orthodox Church appear on the TV and in
media very often, they do not hide their opinion about European laws about same-sex marriage and
prides. Although there are a lot of cases of homosexuality among priesthood, patriarch speaks out as
if ”these” people do not exist in his society and homosexuality is just Western debauch.
Unfortunately many people believe them and blame Europe in imposition of homosexuality. They

do not understand that nobody can “become” homosexual and it cannot be a trend.
Government on its own supports Church in this case, they control the media and it is impossible to
find any reference to the LGBT on the federal channels. Sometimes in the news LGBT or
homosexuality appear, but only as something negative or when it relates to the Europe. “In contrast
to the heterosexuality that is portrayed as normal, natural and genuinely Russian, homosexuality is
referred to as abnormal love, as non-traditional and immoral behaviour and, what is more, as a
product of Western cultural influence.”(Hanna Stähle,!“Between Homophobia and Gay Lobby: The
Russian Orthodox Church and its Relationship to Homosexuality in Online Discussions”, p. 51)
In 2013 the government issued the law, which banns “propaganda of non-traditional sexual
relationships”. If a mother with a child will see lesbians or gays kissing or hugging on the street, she
can report about it and a couple will be penalized. “When the State Duma passed a law banning the
dissemination of propaganda for homosexual relations to minors on 30 June 2013 and imposed
heavy fines for violations thereof (Michajlov 2013: 87), the Russian Orthodox Church was
supportive of the new legislation and actively promoted its view of homosexuality as a phenomenon
alien to the Russian cultural tradition.”(Hanna Stähle,!“Between Homophobia and Gay Lobby: The
Russian Orthodox Church and its Relationship to Homosexuality in Online Discussions”, p. 53) So
homosexuals are living in the permanent fear to be noticed. When in the big cities LGBT-people are
afraid of penalty, in small towns they just could be beaten and police will not be on their side.
In 2020 Vladimir Putin made the amendment about marriage in the Constitution. Now under the
Constitution marriage will be the union between man and women. Many European politicians say
that this amendment was made as opposition to the ratification of same-sex marriage in European
countries. “The proposed changes include an amendment stating that marriage is between "a man
and a woman," State Duma deputy speaker Pyotr Tolstoi told reporters on March 2. The proposed
amendment would enshrine the country's ban on same-sex marriage in the constitution, after Putin
vowed last month that Russia would not legalize such unions as long as he is president.” (“Putin
Seeks To Enshrine Same-Sex Marriage Ban In Russian Constitution”, March 2020) Also State
Duma offered to add in the law about propaganda the propaganda in the Internet, which could be
crucial for many LGBT people because the Internet is the only safe “space”, where they can be
themselves and speak up their mind.

LGBT-Activism in Russia
Although the life of LGBT is not as easy and safe in Russia, a lot of homosexuals try to fight for
their rights and organize some kind of “sex education”, where they are not only speaking about
rights and discrimination in Russia, but also about homosexual and heterosexual sex, abuse and
violence. As though they just make their own imaginary world in the media, they write posts on
Instagram, Telegram or Vkontakte (Russian social network, same as Facebook). They do not try to
fill people with love to LGBT, they just make their social group visible. LGBT-community in
Russian social networks is something magical, actually it seems to be unreal, but there is the only
way for people to be themselves. They organize parties, events and support each other. “LGBT
activism in general, and our work in particular, is about trying to give LGBT people back their
pride and dignity. It’s also about empowering them with the understanding that they have a right to
be themselves, that they don’t have to hide or lie. We also do our part in trying to change society,
little by little, so that in their life, LGBT people can hope to meet more friendly allies.”(”Voices
from Queerfest – LGBTI+ Activism in Russia”, September 2019) This activism is actually working
well, there is not a lot of homophobia in the Internet, maybe because people can easily sort and filter
the information they. On Youtube you can find a lot of videos about sexuality and LGBT people,
which give you not propaganda, but rather understanding that everyone is different.
Of course there are some negative sides in being active in the Internet, and especially it concerns
queer activity. Firstly when you post a lot of things on the media you became visible, actually it is
the main point of their activity: “to make LGBT visible”, but this activity creates a big risk to be
noticed on the street and as a consequence to be beaten. Secondly a lot of bloggers became victims
of outing. Outing is an act of revelation of sexual orientation without persons consent. Haters or
hostile relatives can disclose the orientation of the person, which can be harmful for a person. It
happens often among bloggers. Outing can happened not only with bloggers, but homosexuals, who
does not wants to be “visible” and hide their private life in the social media and real life.!”LGBT
people exist in a homophobic and transphobic environment and hide who they are in their social
environments. They don’t trust their employers, co–workers, doctors, landlords, service providers,
or even family members.”(”Voices from Queerfest – LGBTI+ Activism in Russia, September 2019)
For hard situations there exists hotline for LGBT-people, Unfortunately many frauds use the hotline
to collect the material to blame the organization in “propaganda”, that’s why social workers are
always at rick to be punished. The next big problem is the government, which is carefully looking
after queer activity and sometimes“…the Russian government uses it (the “gay propaganda” law)

to silence LGBT activists, suppress peaceful protests, and censor online expression.” (Nicola
Habersetzer, Russian “LGBT Activist Under House Arrest is Facing New Charges”, Human Rights
Watch, January 2020)
Homophobia in Chechnya
The important part of our topic, which should be covered, is Chechnya and their perception of
LGBT. Chechnya is a federal subject of Russian Federation, which is located in the North Caucasus.
As many people know, Caucasus is one of the most conservative parts of Russia. Even nowadays
people are following old traditions, which are discriminative and keep solving problems with
violence. A big role there plays religion and autonomy of this region. “In the majority-Muslim
region, with a deeply conservative culture, being gay was never accepted. But under Kadyrov, the
suffocating strictures defining Chechen identity have narrowed even further and are sometimes
brutally enforced.” (Patrick Reevell, “'Any day you can be taken': Inside what it's like to be gay in
Chechnya”, October 2019) Only a small part of the population there thinks, that homosexuals are a
normal social group. The majority is adjusted hostility, they look for any options to discriminate
homosexuals or trans people. Often homosexuals have traditional families with children to be safe.
“For LGBT people in Chechnya, a double life is obligatory. The fear is not only of the state but also
of their own families and local communities, where homosexuality is perceived as bringing
shame<…>Many LGBT men and woman marry members of the opposite sex, under pressure from
their families.”(Patrick Reevell, “'Any day you can be taken': Inside what it's like to be gay in
Chechnya”, October 2019)
In the 2017 massive prosecutions and murders of homosexuals and transgenders started in
Chechnya. Detainees were tortured with electric shock; some of them were killed. The government
denies not only reprisals, but also the existents of homosexuals. “If there were such people in
Chechnya, law enforcement agencies wouldn’t need to have anything to do with them because their
relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning” said the Kadyrov’s
spokesman Alvi Karimov (Shaun Walker, “Chechnya leader rejects reports of anti-gay purge”,
2017) The authorities of many European countries demanded to call the Chechen Government for
investigation concerning prosecution of homosexuals. The news spread wide and a lot of
organizations for human rights talked about it. Chechen’s LGBT are trying to leave the country, but
since 2019 the police is looking after them strictly and that’s why it is not always possible.

Conclusion
To sum up I want to say that identity of LGBT is a complicated thing in Russia. When in big cities
people have an opportunity to express themselves of course in some cases it could be dangerous, but
in small towns and especially in religious regions they are forced to hide their identity. LGBT-
activists are very brave people and they are risking every time when they fight for their rights.
Hopefully in the next years the situation will be much better. The new generation without Soviet
prejudice may change the situation for the better.
!
Literature
• Georgy Manaev, Daniel Chalyan: «How sexual revolution exploded (and imploded) across
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2019
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• Ilaria Parogni: «Transgender Russians Struggle to Take Their Movement Out of the Shadows»,
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