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Right, time for a thread on what life was like if you were LGBT in the Soviet Union:
Part I
Part I
I'll try and do this by decade:
1910s:
After Bolsheviks formed the RSR, they de facto decriminalised homosexuality in 1917 by abolishing the Tsarist legal code.
This is considered a time when non-normative sexuality and gender became liberated. But not a time of liberty.
1910s:
After Bolsheviks formed the RSR, they de facto decriminalised homosexuality in 1917 by abolishing the Tsarist legal code.
This is considered a time when non-normative sexuality and gender became liberated. But not a time of liberty.
Despite this, there are few notable people which stick out from this period, including Georgy Chicherin, an openly gay man who was appointed in 1918 Secretary for Foreign Affairs for the Soviet Republic.
He would later be purged by Stalin
He would later be purged by Stalin
Another such woman: Tatyana Miroshnikova.
A former peasant, she was a student who fought during the Civil War.
She famously refused to wear a female uniform, openly had a relationship with a woman she called her wife, and inquired about changing her sex.
No picture found.
A former peasant, she was a student who fought during the Civil War.
She famously refused to wear a female uniform, openly had a relationship with a woman she called her wife, and inquired about changing her sex.
No picture found.
But here's a letter she wrote to Vladimir Bekhterev, a renowned neurologist and psychologist:
"I have loved women, in a way no man can. I served in the Red Army, and cared for young ladies just like a man would.
"I have loved women, in a way no man can. I served in the Red Army, and cared for young ladies just like a man would.
The attraction is so strong that if I am betrayed, then I wish to kill myself out of jealousy. I can't express how strong my attraction is. I have a girlfriend, and I love her so much that, as a mark of our friendship, she changed her surname."
1920s:
Picture is a drag ball held in Saint Petersburg in the 1920s, a rare picture of early Soviet gender experimentation. During this time, medical professional become increasingly interested in sex and gender.
Picture is a drag ball held in Saint Petersburg in the 1920s, a rare picture of early Soviet gender experimentation. During this time, medical professional become increasingly interested in sex and gender.
Sadly, this did'nt last long.
Although Bolsheviks claimed to be liberators from conservative values, Lenin himself thought "transgressive sexual practices" to be bourgeois degeneracy. "Homosexuals place selfish desire over the interests of the collective, contribute nothing"
Although Bolsheviks claimed to be liberators from conservative values, Lenin himself thought "transgressive sexual practices" to be bourgeois degeneracy. "Homosexuals place selfish desire over the interests of the collective, contribute nothing"
1930s:
Under Stalin, things worsened. After false reports by the secret police that gays were establishing underground counter revolutionary salons, in 1934, he introduced a new article to the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, recriminalising homosexuality (but not lesbianism).
Under Stalin, things worsened. After false reports by the secret police that gays were establishing underground counter revolutionary salons, in 1934, he introduced a new article to the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, recriminalising homosexuality (but not lesbianism).
Article 121 of the Criminal Code meant up to five years of imprisonment for anyone charged with homosexuality.
At one point, they began to equate it with fascism, because of homosexual tolerance in Germany under the Weimar Republic. "Destroy homosexuality, to destroy fascism"
At one point, they began to equate it with fascism, because of homosexual tolerance in Germany under the Weimar Republic. "Destroy homosexuality, to destroy fascism"
Thus, the perception began that the continued existence of homosexuality in the Soviet Union was proof of the failure of socialism. It was un-Soviet.
It's unclear how many men were imprisoned for homosexuality during Stalin's era, as you could be brought up on other charges.
It's unclear how many men were imprisoned for homosexuality during Stalin's era, as you could be brought up on other charges.
What does this mean for ordinary Soviet homosexuals?
Living in fear, once again ignored by society, and having to hide. The authorities were happy to send famous people like singer Vadim Kozin, “the king of tango,” and director Sergei Parajanov (pictured) to prison.
Living in fear, once again ignored by society, and having to hide. The authorities were happy to send famous people like singer Vadim Kozin, “the king of tango,” and director Sergei Parajanov (pictured) to prison.
What if you wanted to meet a man?
You met in a gay cruising spot (pleshka, lit. "clear area"), anywhere from the Bolshoi Theater to public restrooms. The word also means "bald spot". So, the statue of Karl Marx on Theater Square was known as "director of the Pleshka."
You met in a gay cruising spot (pleshka, lit. "clear area"), anywhere from the Bolshoi Theater to public restrooms. The word also means "bald spot". So, the statue of Karl Marx on Theater Square was known as "director of the Pleshka."
1940s
There's very little info of what happen in the 1940s, mostly because a lot of documents relate to the war and its aftermath, and the FSB has still got them as classified
So instead, here's something fun: gay slang and pictures will be cruising spots.
There's very little info of what happen in the 1940s, mostly because a lot of documents relate to the war and its aftermath, and the FSB has still got them as classified
So instead, here's something fun: gay slang and pictures will be cruising spots.
Here are some of my favourite slang words:
- тётка: auntie. Just like in French, gays have historically been called aunts in Russia.
- Белка: squirrel. A fussy gay man.
- Биатлон: biathlon. Sex that occurs at a pleshka.
(Okhotny Ryad Metro)
- тётка: auntie. Just like in French, gays have historically been called aunts in Russia.
- Белка: squirrel. A fussy gay man.
- Биатлон: biathlon. Sex that occurs at a pleshka.
(Okhotny Ryad Metro)
- Козочка: Goat, a term of endearment, like dear.
- Па-де-де: Pas-de-deux. Sex between two men.
- Пантомима: Pantomime. Sex which involves striking beautiful poses.
- Взлетать под струю: take off under the stream. Going to the bathhouse for sex.
Statue of Marx at Theatre Square.
- Па-де-де: Pas-de-deux. Sex between two men.
- Пантомима: Pantomime. Sex which involves striking beautiful poses.
- Взлетать под струю: take off under the stream. Going to the bathhouse for sex.
Statue of Marx at Theatre Square.
- Обглодать: to nibble. to give felatio.
- Палтус: Halibut. an overweight gay man (what we'd call a bear)
- Персик: peach. A young gay man, new to the scene.
Gardens of the Bolshoi Theatre.
- Палтус: Halibut. an overweight gay man (what we'd call a bear)
- Персик: peach. A young gay man, new to the scene.
Gardens of the Bolshoi Theatre.
1950s:
Stalin dies. Khrushchev takes over and repeals a lot of Stalinist laws. But doesn't touch homosexuality. In 1958 the Interior Ministry issued a secret decree “on the strengthening of the struggle against sodomy” telling police to enforce the law with renewed vigor.
Stalin dies. Khrushchev takes over and repeals a lot of Stalinist laws. But doesn't touch homosexuality. In 1958 the Interior Ministry issued a secret decree “on the strengthening of the struggle against sodomy” telling police to enforce the law with renewed vigor.
Why?
Because Soviet officials genuinely worried that all the gays they released from single-sex gulags would suddenly have license to go raping everyone in society and turning them gay.
Really.
Because Soviet officials genuinely worried that all the gays they released from single-sex gulags would suddenly have license to go raping everyone in society and turning them gay.
Really.
In 1957, two Soviet psychiatrists led experiments in what we now call "conversion therapy" on 9 women who were deemed deranged because of their lesbianism. Whilst men went to gulags/prisons, women were sent to mental hospitals.
It failed.
It failed.
