Russian Cultural Profile
Sexuality

The  Soviet Union re-criminalized homosexuality in a decree signed in late 1933. The new Article 121, which punished muzhelozhstvo (laying with a man, interpreted as anal sex) with imprisonment for up to 5 years, was followed by raids and arrests at the height of the Stalinist terror. The numbers of men arrested are not known, but by the 1980s there were about 1000 every year.

Article 121 was often used throughout the Soviet period to extend prison sentences and to control dissidents. Threat of prosecution was also used to blackmail homosexuals into informing for the police and the KGB. Needless to say, gay men in Russia kept a low profile in the Soviet period, many restricting their gay activities to small circles of proven friends.

In 1984 a handful of gay men in Leningrad attempted to form the first organization of gay men. They were quickly hounded into submission by the KGB. It was only with Gorbachev's glasnost that such an organization could come into existence in 1989-90. The Moscow Gay & Lesbian Alliance was headed by Yevgeniya Debryanskaya, and Roman Kalinin became the editor of the first officially registered gay newspaper, Tema. Organizations and publications proliferated. The summer of 1991 saw the first international conference, film festival, and demonstrations for gay rights in Moscow and Leningrad. This was followed almost immediately by the attempted coup. Reversion to a more conservative regime would clearly have threatened their recent gains, and legend has it that many gay activists manned the barricades protecting the Russian White House and that Yeltsin's decrees were printed on the Xerox machines of the new gay organizations.

The collapse of the Soviet Union that soon followed the failed coup only accelerated the progress of the gay movement. Occasional gay discos were held, more gay publications appeared, gay plays were staged. In 1993 a new Russian Criminal Code was signed -- without Article 121. Men who had been imprisoned under the article began to be released. Today, while homosexuality is still largely taboo in Russia, capitalism has brought the first gay businesses into the country – including bars, discos, saunas and travel agencies. While life in the provinces remains difficult for gay men, homosexuality is more accepted in urban areas. (source: http://www.middlebury.edu/~moss/RGC2.html)

While homosexuality is increasingly accepted in Russian cities, it is not likely to be embraced by the Russian refugees living in Utica. Most Russians still view homosexuality critically, particularly fervent Christians. The Pentecostal Christians, who comprise the majority of the incoming refugees from the former Soviet Union, view homosexuality as a sin.