SPECIAL REPORT

Rainbow over brighton

Why do LGBT people still feel discrimination in the Russian region?

Author: Elvira Brodskaya
Photo: Nikita Burukhin

Brighton Beach is a legendary district of New York, “little Odessa”, an old oasis of Russian emigration. The Russian heart tends here, and when choosing a place of residence in another country, many people from the countries of the former USSR sincerely want to live “among their own”, hearing their native language around and not feeling that there is a giant, alien America behind the invisible border of Russian-speaking regions. However, for many, the community’s help is either not available or turns out to be a completely different side: some of the arriving Russians (and not so) residents of Brighton and the surrounding area belong to the LGBT community. They are often pushed to move to America by the discrimination and harassment they face at home - but after moving across the ocean in Brighton, they are almost “at home”: here, too, behind every corner aggression and misunderstanding can be expected. ForumDaily figured out how the LGBT community get along with the Russian-speaking inhabitants of Brighton Beach.

Work with risk to life

Dima and Misha moved to New York from St. Petersburg in February 2017, fleeing police persecution: instead of protecting them from homophobic attacks, the couple were threatened with prison. Dima had a chance to work in a store on Kings Highway, where most of the customers came from the CIS countries. There he faced the unpleasant consequences of working in the “Russian region”.

from personal archive

“Somehow, at the end of the day, a family came into the store - a woman, a man and two children. The store manager, my friend and openly gay, smoked at the entrance to the store, already about to close it, - says Dmitry. - The woman, seeing that he smokes, rudely asked him to leave. Naturally, he could not go anywhere. He said that the store is closing and asked the family to leave private property. Nevertheless, the woman insisted that he put out a cigarette and left the store. Her companion connected, started poking fingers at my friend and raising his voice to him. Here I could not stand it, and the squabble began. My friend and I immediately turned out to be "fucked up ***" and "full of holes." Without getting lost, we played along to them, knowing that the store is full of recording CCTV cameras. We turned on the famous song “I will survive” and called the police, while we waited for the police, we pretended that we were having fun, as gays and were supposed to - right in front of them. Insults at us continued, even when the family had already left the store and stood at the bus stop opposite. In the end, a man approached me and began to choke. Of course, the camera recorded everything, and when the police arrived, they took him to the station ... My friend quit after two days, and I soon followed him, promising myself that I would not take that risk anymore - to look for work in the Russian-speaking district. ”

photo: Nikita Burukhin

According to Dima, most of those who move to the United States from the countries of the former Soviet Union, carry with them all their complexes and prejudices. “For them it’s not that it’s not known that homosexual marriages have been approved in the USA for several years now - for them the open expression of their orientation is something indecent and vile”- he says.

At the same time, the difference between the perception of the LGBT community among the Russian-speaking population and the Americans is cardinal. “I was a member of the annual gay parade in New York this year as a marshal - group leader,” says Dmitry. - I observed the order and safety of our Russian-speaking column and did not find a single negative shout or scornful view from the audience. Many asked to come and embrace them, encouraged them when they saw a convoy coming from the CIS countries. ”

photo: Nikita Burukhin

American dream of living without fear

Tolerance is one of the main things that distinguishes America from the post-Soviet countries. The first amendment guarantees the right to freedom of choice - in whom to believe, what to say and think. Naturally, the right to love “not according to a textbook” also stems from this - and the United States has long been considered one of the flagships of queer culture. Harvey Milk was born here, the Stonvolsky riots died down; here for the first time in universities began to study gay and lesbian studies - that is, the history, origins and essence of the LGBT movement. The land of freedom is not just words for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans-people from the post-Soviet space. They go to America for the protection of the law and a quiet life without fear.

from personal archive

23-year-old Cyril (name changed) - one of them. He flew to the USA at the end of 2016 of the year. He settled in New York, but he tries to avoid Russian-speaking areas.

“Of course, as a representative of LGBT, I avoid this place!” - says Cyril about Brighton Beach. “I shun him like the hell of a cross.” I escaped from this from Russia, so why should I voluntarily climb into this pool again? Brighton is a negative, unpleasant, intolerant, unfriendly place ... I will not list everything. But from some side, its inhabitants even arouse my interest. What motivates people to immigrate to another country and not try to assimilate, taste new culture, customs, and leisure? ”

However, despite the fact that Cyril himself does not go to Brighton, Brighton still “came” to him. In the metro, on the Q branch, at the bottom of which “Russian regions” are concentrated, a young man noticed a married couple who loudly and in Russian made remarks about two gays standing nearby.

"They began to speak out - how they (gays) need to behave, what to do, how to dress, where to go, where to burn and where to hang"- says Cyril. Without thinking twice, he decided to get a mirror to defiantly put himself in order. “Another rear wheel drive!”, Came the reply. To which, in pure Russian, Cyril replied that he was thinking of a couple. The next two stations, they exchanged "courtesies" - the guy learned that he was to "burn in hell," should "go to church," and had heard enough of the usual insults about "f *** ing".

from personal archive

Stepan N., 22, fled from the Ural part of Russia on the basis of homophobia and asked for political asylum in the United States. For a year and a half, he lives in New York and does not hide his orientation either in front of his acquaintances or during recruitment. Stepan had a chance to communicate with his fellow countrymen: at first he worked in a Russian-speaking company. In addition, it is impossible to avoid completely communicating with the Russian community if you came to America without the right to work, connections and money - that is, you are the most common asylum seeker who, due to specific migration laws, receives the documents necessary for life almost a year after arrival, and even later.

Repeatedly, Stepan came across attacks that may seem mild, but, nevertheless, have a dramatic effect on the psyche of a person who has suffered for many years from bullying and humiliation in his homeland.

“In the online sales company, where I worked as a packer, I had to face jokes of my colleagues about PID *** Sov.” I had to quit. "

At the same time, Stepan is sober about such situations - he understands that it is impossible to avoid them completely, communicating with the Russian-speaking community.

“Unfortunately, many leave from Russia and from the former CIS countries, but remain with the same mindset, do not want to adapt, become more tolerant and more open to society. These people live in their own little closed world, ”he says. Periodic "clashes" with the Russian regions for Stepan are not very successful. For example, even a simple walk does not go smoothly. “I once walked along Broadwalk in Brighton with a young man, holding hands,” says Stepan. - Behind us we heard shouts: “Pid *** sy! Look, there's a fucking fuck out! ”, But no one came to us personally.”

Russian-speaking LGBT people in New York are still in the position of “among their strangers, a stranger among theirs”. As a rule, any new migrant instinctively seeks protection and support, primarily within the community. But for gay migrants this is not always the case - even if they move to America, those who regularly communicate with Russian-speaking communities often prefer to “sit in the closet”. "Our customers do not know that we are a couple, - say friends who are engaged in small business. - Why should they know? After all, most of them are Russians. ”. Really - why?

Discrimination, misunderstanding, ridicule - this is what most Russian-speaking LGBT migrants have to deal with. The Russian diaspora is not always friendly to dissenters, and any narrow-mindedness in a closed community can reach the absolute. Even comments on this article were collected “in agony” - most of the respondents, including well-known community activists, refused to talk on various pretexts. The riddle is solved simply: to speak openly and impartially about the Russian-speaking community for many means to lose the chance of a steady income or rent a good apartment, and for someone to lose friends (those who either don’t know about the orientation of a friend or a friend, or prefer to close these are eyes). Intolerance, conservatism and homophobia “our people” bring from overseas and often leave with them forever. Newly arrived LGBT migrants are forced to adapt, because often they simply have no choice. After all, where will rent an apartment without a long credit history and legal income? Where, when applying for a job, do not need spoken English? Of course, in the Russian "eria": Brighton Beach, as well as the adjacent Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Bensonhurst.

photo: Nikita Burukhin

Signed gay parade on Brighton

Against this backdrop, the Brighton gay parade in May of 2017 of the year was almost a sensation. Although the prides in New York are a fairly well-established tradition (in addition to the main, the June Pride of New York, there are many smaller, dedicated to specific areas), to “climb” into ethnic homophobic communities, as a rule, everyone is afraid. Everyone knows that in New York there is not one or two districts where “no entry is allowed for gays,” but this is a blind eye. And so Brighton and is unofficially considered the territory of the veto.

Nevertheless, on the twentieth of May this year, the rainbow flags flew over the bewildered Brighton Beach for the first time: a Russian-language gay parade was walking along the edge of the ocean, accompanied by glances of onlookers, camera flashes and drizzling rain. “This is our city! We are queer, we are here! ", - chanted marching. Many slogans were funny: for example, the slogan “Sausage Enough For All” became a landmark. He was born under the influence of the well-known definition of “sausage emigration” —that is, the last wave of emigration from the USSR and the first from Russia, which arrived in the 90s of the last century. It is precisely the “sausage emigrants” that today constitute the backbone of the Russian-speaking community of Brighton Beach - and it is to them, already accomplished people with established views, to those whose children are becoming “real Americans”, and this action was turned.

photo: Nikita Burukhin

The Brighton initiative to hold a pride belongs to Aleksey Gorshkov, a professor, co-president of RUSAL LGBT, an activist and a public speaker. This thought arose at the end of 2014, but it took three years to implement it. The reason was that most of the new gay migrants in the Russian-speaking areas still have to hide themselves

“This is not groundless fear,” emphasizes Gorshkov, “because the level of homophobia in these areas is still high — on the verbal and sometimes even on the physical level. I just felt angry about the fact that, even coming here, we continue to be marginal among our own. I heard in my address a lot of verbal abuse. And each time, when I heard some stories from the discharge - my employer insults and threatens me, or in the medical office they laugh at me in the back, because I am gay, or the landlord shouts that “such” in his / her home is not place ... my faith was strengthened. Then stories about physical abuse began to flow, and that was the limit. I decided that by all means we should hold a Pride ".

Brighton Beach Pride was born in agony: the idea of Alexei Gorshkov was not immediately supported, and not all. Most of the Russian-speaking LGBT community initially refused to participate in the parade and met her extremely skeptical.

“To the surprise, though small, to be honest, the main protest was provoked by our LGBTIK, who launched a campaign to reduce the idea of the Brighton Beach Pride to a cheap cabaret, a freak parade ... Homophobia originating from the LGBT themselves is worse than another form homophobia. They shouted, scolded us for what it was worth, shook the air, sarcastically exclaiming: "Yes, you can handle the scoop with feathers and sparkles!" These are the people who are not sure of themselves and do not let others live. Tragicomic, but realistic picture. It did not break me, on the contrary, inspired even more! Solidarity is what the Russian-speaking LGBT community lacks, ”says Alexey..

Many of the LGBT environment initially did not intend to go to the Pride. There were many fears: that they would beat, that something irreparable would happen, that the police would not help. “What do you want to change?” - these questions sounded from everywhere. Someone bluntly stated that I didn’t want to go, because if my acquaintances from Brighton found out that I was there, they wouldn’t have anything to do with me anymore. Someone was afraid of losing his job ... All the fears of the community, all the most popular incidents were reflected in the slogans on those posters that as a result were created for Pride. So among the slogans appeared calls for equality of rights in the workplace and "gay-friendly" sites, as well as a funny "homophobia from the Evil One."

photo: Nikita Burukhin

Kirill admits that he did not want to go to the pride to the last - but not because of fear, but because of skepticism. “I did not see the point of proving, explaining, declaring existence to people who are so far from understanding all this. Well, they will not want to listen, try to understand, accept ... But after numerous explanations of my friends that this makes sense, after numerous debates on this topic, I realized that this parade should be. That we also have rights, that we are equal, friendly, and we go in peace ... "How long can you be afraid to declare yourself? Did I fly here for this? To be afraid of someone again? No! ”I thought to myself. And I went to the forefront of the parade. It was beautiful: very emotional, proud, loud, with full enthusiasm and excitement. Someone accepted us as expected - with hatred, condemnation, and someone, surprisingly, very friendly and with support. Anyway, we did it, we accomplished our planned mission and we were not afraid. We held the first ever gay parade in the history of Brighton and are very proud of it! ”

However, Aleksey Gorshkov rationally believes that only bad weather and lack of information prevented the “Brighton” people from reacting more aggressively. Do not forget that Pride was guarded by the police in New York.

“Next year everything will be much more serious - they already know about us,” says Gorshkov. “But we will be ready and not retreat.”

The result of the Brighton Beach Pride is rather optimistic: more than three hundred people came to him, despite the bad weather - and no one was hurt! The event fell into a variety of media, and, I must say, most of the previously dissenting skeptics visited it. The group in kokoshniks was especially distinguished: several young people decided to give Pride a little fun. Without revealing his names, one of them later admitted in an interview that he first appeared in the light of day in a similar role.

Stepan, albeit in "civilian clothes", but marched to the Brighton Beach Pride with joy

“I understand that at least here I should not be afraid of anyone or anything. If I can change something, I would like to do it - even if it concerns the way of thinking of people in Brighton Beach. ”

“I believe that it is necessary to convey to the Russian-speaking contingent in every possible way that we are equal, we have the same rights, and we differ from you only by our own preferences,” adds Kirill. - Do not hate or fear us, try to understand and learn for a start ... And homophobia is everywhere! Including the United States. And holding such parades, rallies, protests will make sense until we forget the word "homophobia" and until every person of any orientation on the planet ceases to be afraid of being who he is, anywhere in the world. "

photo: Nikita Burukhin

Another look at Brighton

Once or twice a quarter, Alexander Yankin, who lives in one of the most expensive areas of Manhattan's East Village, always comes to Brighton to stroll along the main street, eat pies and buy traditional dumplings, buckwheat and caviar. In the past, Alexander worked in the PR and marketing industry, at present he is the administrator of the popular group for Russian-speaking LGBT migrants “Rainbow America”. He lives in the USA for two years. Says: Be that as it may, Brighton Beach for him is a “piece of homeland.”

“For many, it is Brighton’s originality, his“ special ”atmosphere, even the rudeness of saleswomen in stores - not a minus, but a way to feel at home without leaving the United States, he shares. - I consider Brighton to be the best ethnic area in New York - also because of the beautiful promenade and the beach: no other enclave can boast such a location. At Brighton, I can speak in Russian, have a row in the shops: when a saleswoman hits you, it sounds like “music of the motherland”. Rest there soul ".

from personal archive

Is it time for Brighton to change? Alexander believes that no: the more so since Brighton is already changing under the influence of time and the emigrant flows from the CIS. He is against rapid and violent change from the outside.

“The old population of Little Odessa is degenerating and aging,” says Yankin. - Their children are leaving for Big America. In their place come new immigrants, mainly from Asia, with their own customs, cuisine and culture. “Little Odessa” is slowly but surely turning into “Big Samarkand”. The brilliance and magnificence of 80's and 90's of the last century has remained in the irrevocable past. ”

Unlike many other people from the LGBT community, Alexander does not feel homophobia in Brighton as such.

“People are already tortured by American competition and the struggle for survival, and, frankly, they just don't care about the problems and self-expression of others. If no one in Brighton is hurt personally, they will never look in your direction. Although I have heard several times from friends that they had similar skirmishes. However, mostly homophobia is inherent in “fresh” immigrants who still live in attitudes and traditions of their former homeland. ”

Alexander's dream is to see a Russian-language gay bar on Brighton. Nevertheless, he believes that he is unlikely to live to see this bright day.

Editor: Yulia Buniak
Design: Maria Sidorenko

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