Journalist flees Russia to keep family safe amid persecution of homosexuals

[MNBrewer]

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/11/journalist_flees_russia_to_keep_family_safe_amid_persecution_of_homosexuals/

A powerful post in the Guardian by Masha Gessen has gone viral after the Russian journalist wrote about her difficult decision to flee Russia. Gessen, who who has two children and a third on the way with her female partner, no longer feels safe in a country that has banned homosexuality.

The decision was a last resort option for Gessen, who has been an LGBT activist for two years. She fought against the ban and even launched the pink-triangle campaign to fight against the fascism she saw overtaking her nation:

"Russia has a lot of poorly written laws and regulations that contradict its own constitution, but this one was different. Like other contemporary laws, it was so vaguely worded that it encouraged corruption and extortion (fines for “homosexual propaganda” are backbreaking) and made selective enforcement inevitable. But it also did something that had never been done in Russian law before: it enshrined second-class citizenship for LGBT people. Think about it: it made it an offence to claim social equality.

St Petersburg passed the law in March 2012. I no longer thought it was funny. I actually choked up when I saw the news item about the bill being proposed at the federal level. My girlfriend had recently had a baby and this, among other things, meant we needed to sell our tiny cars and trade up to something that accommodated three kids and a pram. I asked her: “Are we doing this or do we just need to get out of the country?” We decided we were doing it. We are fighters, not quitters."

[MADem]

1. So much for Pootie's Land of the (not really) free. nt

[Behind the Aegis]

2. And so it begins.

How many more stories like this will we see? How many won't we see?! And given some of the shit I have seen on the internet today, I feel that some are willing to wait until gas chambers are built before we should say anything.

[madrchsod]

3. it`s just not the lgbt community

i have been following the rise of the extreme xenophobia in russia and other parts of eastern europe. although here in the united states racism is bad it is far worse in these countries. although russia has passed laws that have lessened the amount of attacks it still is a very bad situation for non whites and religious minorities.

the 2018 world cup will be held in russia and there is already a movement to have it changed to another counry because of the racism in russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Russia

http://www.kickitout.org/1251.php