BACKSTORY. LGBT+ rights in Russia have been deteriorating for years now. In 2013, the country passed an anti "gay propaganda" law, which banned exposing minors to LGBT+ materials. Officials have also been turning a blind eye to the brutal torture and killings of LGBT+ people in the country, including the anti-gay purges in Chechnya, which our reporter Yelena Milashina exposed in 2017. On top of that, recent power-grabbing constitutional changes enacted by President Putin were enveloped into further LGBT+ scapegoating — a ban on marriage equality and cancelation of legal identity for transgender citizens.
Being queer has never been easy in Russia. Still, due to government policies, things have escalated badly in the recent decade. A flow of LGBT+ refugees from the country would keep rising, especially after recent pogroms in the Southern Russian region of Chechnya. But the pandemic robbed the Russian queer refugees of their ultimate escape option. In a mini-doc by our Victoria Oddissonova, this week, we feature the untold stories of LGBT+ folks who got blocked by closed borders from seeking refuge abroad.
MEET NIKA. 'I am 34 years old. I want to live, at last. I am so tired of just surviving, says Nika as she stares into space. A few years ago, Nika started to lose her vision. Doctors said that it was probably hereditary, but Nika believes that she began to lose her sight after being severely beaten in 2017. 'I was outside smoking and waiting for my boyfriend, Nika explains. Three men approached me and asked me for a cigarette. Then they wanted to know my name. Then one of them said, "Oh, you're not a girl, you're a f****t." Then she was beaten so severely that she still has scars on her forehead.
TRAPPED. Nikka is a transgender woman and a running for her life. She is originally from Southern Russia, and due to the borders being closed by the pandemic restrictions, she is unable to leave Russia. Nika has been living in a shelter for the past three years, and she's so afraid for her safety that she rarely leaves it. She is hiding from family members who want to kill her for being a transgender woman. Her story is not unique.
ESCAPE PLANS COLLAPSED. 'The Russian LGBT Network,' the country's largest queer rights organization, helped evacuate almost 200 LGBT+ Russians abroad in recent three years. The pandemic and closed borders have halted the process. Making any plans for your future is now impossible for asylum seekers from Russia.
Read our story about the LGTB people trapped in limbo here.