Andrei Zavalei is a queer activist in Belarus.

I have a pidor family. In Belarusian (as well as Russian and Ukrainian), pidor means “faggot.” It’s a derogatory word. I know I should use the term “queer” instead — that’s the politically correct word used worldwide. But in homophobic Belarus, except among the most privileged part of the LGBTQ community, “queer” doesn’t mean anything.

And so, I have a pidor family.

Three pidors from my family meet the dawn of a new day on the stairs of an apartment building in the residential district of Minsk. They have been hiding from the police brutality that has reigned in my country since the election on August 9.

Belarus’ LGBTQ community faces violence every day.

Being a peaceful protester these days in Belarus means to be a target of violence, to be terrorized, detained, attacked, beaten up, injured and murdered on the streets or tortured in jail.

But for my pidor family, that’s nothing we’re not used to. We’ve been fighting for our rights since before this election. We’ve been fighting for our rights ahead of this election. And we’ll be fighting for our rights after this election. Belarus’ LGBTQ community faces violence every day. The authorities exclude us from the public discourse, they ignore our problems, laugh at our faces when we try to address them, and openly persecute us. Read more via Politico