Russia's queer artists fight growing persecution

In 2020, the world was heralding a new wave of queer creativity in Russia, a state that had outlawed much LGBTQ cultural life. 

"The country's LGBTQ+ music and nightlife scene is changing how the world looks at Russian youth," beamed i-D magazine in April that year. Gay artist, model and musician Angel Ulyanov embodied this idea, his latest single and video serving to "dismantle homophobia" in the former Soviet Union.     

Founded only five years after President Vladimir Putin's infamous "gay propaganda law" was passed in 2013, the Moscow-based publication O-Zine was then a vanguard of the queer culture underground.

But this seeming tolerance has largely evaporated since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. O-Zine appears to be on hold and many queer artists have since gone into exile.

In November 2022, Russia's parliament widened the gay propaganda law that essentially outlawed same-sex relationships, or in the words of the law, the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relations" among minors. The new law now bans any material that is positive about LGBTQ lifestyles across books, films, advertising and online.

Lawmakers say they are defending "traditional" Russian values against the permissive liberal "West," an argument that has been used to justify attacking Ukraine.

For Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein, LGBTQ "is an element of hybrid warfare and in this hybrid warfare we must protect our values, our society and our children," the politician said in October 2022 as he was proposing the new LGBTQ propaganda law. A month after it passed,  independent Russian publisher Popcorn Books was forbidden to sell LGBTQ books. 

According to independent news website Meduza, the publisher has moved its business to other countries such as Belarus and Kazakhstan, since buying (as opposed to selling) books containing LGBTQ themes and characters is not yet illegal in Russia.

A 'new target' for Russia's war

The law also compared compared LGBTQ lifestyles to pedophilia, noted gay musician Angel Ulyanov in an Instagram post.

"The authorities planned a war not only in Ukraine, but also in their own society, choosing a new target for this war — the LGBTQ community," he wrote.

"I am no longer angry and outraged by this fight with 'non-traditional values'," he continued. "I just want to forget the existence of this country."

Ulyanov has since left Russia and is living in the US. Many other queer artists have followed, including LGBTQ activist and museum curator Pyotr Voskresensky.

The artist had been a champion of LGBTQ rights in Russia since 2007 "when protests were still possible," he told DW after escaping to Germany in May 2023.

Before his flight, Voskresensky had been forced to shut down a private exhibition in St. Petersburg that celebrated Russian LGBTQ figures — including Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky — after receiving threats.

"Since the invasion began, it became clear to me that a fresh crackdown was inevitable," he said. "For the first few months, I was even afraid to leave my apartment."

Persecution rises under guise of 'traditional values'

If the propaganda law succeeded in driving queer cultural life from Russia, this push was further galvanized in November 2023 when the Russian Supreme Court said that the international LGBTQ community was part of an "extremist movement." Its activities will be banned beginning in 2024, said the court. 

Days later, it was reported that Russian police started raiding clubs and bars where lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer and non-binary persons gather.

With support from the Russian Orthodox Church, Putin's refocusing on non-western "traditional values" has been backed by his decree that 2024 will be the "year of the family."

'Queendom' celebrates queer struggle for self-expression

Gena Marvin, a self-described "drag activist" in her early 20s, continued to defy the authories in Moscow with her queer performance art during the early 2020s.

The subject of the acclaimed documentary "Queendom," the non-binary artist creates highly expressive costumes that often carry a message — including about the struggles of the LGBTQ community in Russia.

The film documents Marvin's creation of an outfit made with barbed wire, an anti-war statement she paraded on the Moscow streets days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Both Gena and the director, Agniia Galdanova, were subsequently detained by police. It was then decided that the artist, who was raised in far eastern Siberia, must leave Russia. She now lives in Paris, where her work continues — and her protest.

"It is not a unique story about one person," Marvin wrote of "Queendom" in an Instagram post after it was released in early December.

"It is a document of human freedom," she continued. "A path of uniting, a path of fighting for the opportunity to be yourself. Queendom is one of the many stories of the queer community."

At the end of the social media post, Gena suggested ways to find exile in Paris "if you are thinking of leaving Russia."

Amid the crackdown at home, Russian queer creatives are finding ways to be heard — even if increasingly from abroad.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier