Transgender Russians could see their lives radically altered if the anti-LGTB “Traditional Values” bill passes the Duma this fall. The bill would effectively eliminate the legal recognition of transgender people in Russia and make life infinitely more difficult for them. In a special project this week, our Svetlana Vidanova profiles families of transgender Russians who could see their marriages annulled, and banned and their legal identities erased.
BACKSTORY. The ‘erase trans lives’ bill would force everyone who corrected gender markers in their IDs to change it back. But the bill doesn’t specify whether people would have to obtain a new passport. There are questions about how it would affect retirement or whether a transgender person’s marriage would still be considered legal in Russia. In this country, same-sex marriage is banned. And what about families that adopted a child? There are still many open questions, and the Russian trans community is fighting the draft law fiercely. Read our overview of the bill and the situation that transgender people in Russia are facing here.
MISHA AND POLINA. 'We met at work. When I saw Misha for the first time, he looked like a boy, and I didn't know that he was a trans boy. I looked at a person, and I just saw a person,' says Polina. 'Six months later, Misha proposed. We've been together for a year and a half, but it feels like we've known each other our whole lives.'
'I'VE ALWAYS FELT LIKE A BOY, Misha explains. I never liked dresses. When I was 13, and my breasts started to grow, I would wrap them up to hide any evidence that I was a girl. Sometime between the ages of 16 and 18, I learned about what it meant to be transgender, and I realized that I was a trans boy.' Misha is lucky because he has a boss, friends, and a supportive mother, all of whom accepted his transition. But for Paulina, things weren't so simple. Her parents disapprove of the marriage. Now Paulina is closer to Misha's mother than to her own.
‘If this bill passes we won’t be allowed to adopt a child, and if we decide to do IVF they could take our child away from us,‘ Paulina explains.