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Gay Propaganda: Liefdesverhalen uit Rusland
Gay Propaganda brings together original stories, interviews and testimonial, presented in both English and Russian, to capture the lives and loves of LGBT Russians living both in Russia and in exile today. Timed for publication in February 2014, on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the book is a provocative riposte to Russia’s recently passed and ill-defined ban on “homosexual propaganda.”
As part of a strategy to consolidate political control in Russia following massive pro-democracy protests that shook the government, President Putin’s ruling party decided it needed an enemy to unite the country. Hoping to manipulate backward but widely-held prejudices, it opted to demonize gays and lesbians. As a result, in June 2013, Putin signed a bill banning any and all “propaganda” of so-called non-traditional relationships. Quite predictably, in the months that followed, attacks, firings, and hate crimes have spiked across Russia, and the state-sanctioned campaign shows no sign of abating. The Russian Duma is now debating a law to take children away from gay and lesbian parents.
As the world’s media turns its attention to the host country of the Winter Olympics, the stories gathered in Gay Propaganda offer a timely and intimate window into the hardships faced by Russians on the receiving end of state-sanctioned homophobia. Here are tales of of men and women in long-term committed relationships as well as those still looking for love; of those trying to raise kids or taking care of parents; of those facing the challenges of continuing to live in Russia or joining an exodus that is rapidly becoming a flood.
As part of a strategy to consolidate political control in Russia following massive pro-democracy protests that shook the government, President Putin’s ruling party decided it needed an enemy to unite the country. Hoping to manipulate backward but widely-held prejudices, it opted to demonize gays and lesbians. As a result, in June 2013, Putin signed a bill banning any and all “propaganda” of so-called non-traditional relationships. Quite predictably, in the months that followed, attacks, firings, and hate crimes have spiked across Russia, and the state-sanctioned campaign shows no sign of abating. The Russian Duma is now debating a law to take children away from gay and lesbian parents.
As the world’s media turns its attention to the host country of the Winter Olympics, the stories gathered in Gay Propaganda offer a timely and intimate window into the hardships faced by Russians on the receiving end of state-sanctioned homophobia. Here are tales of of men and women in long-term committed relationships as well as those still looking for love; of those trying to raise kids or taking care of parents; of those facing the challenges of continuing to live in Russia or joining an exodus that is rapidly becoming a flood.
160 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2014
7 people are currently reading
474 people want to read
About the author
Masha Gessen
30 books1,309 followersMasha Gessen (born 1967) is an American-Russian journalist, translator, and nonfiction author. They identify as non-binary and use they/them pronouns.
Born into an Ashkenazi Jewish family in Russia, in 1981 they moved with their family to the United States to escape anti-Semitism. They returned in 1991 to Moscow, where they worked as a journalist, and covered Russian military activities during the Chechen Wars. In 2013, they were publicly threatened by prominent Russian politicians for their political activism and were forced to leave Russia for the United States.
They write in both Russian and English, and has contributed to The New Republic, New Statesman, Granta and Slate. Gessen is a staff writer at The New Yorker, covering international politics, Russia, LGBT rights, and gender issues.
Born into an Ashkenazi Jewish family in Russia, in 1981 they moved with their family to the United States to escape anti-Semitism. They returned in 1991 to Moscow, where they worked as a journalist, and covered Russian military activities during the Chechen Wars. In 2013, they were publicly threatened by prominent Russian politicians for their political activism and were forced to leave Russia for the United States.
They write in both Russian and English, and has contributed to The New Republic, New Statesman, Granta and Slate. Gessen is a staff writer at The New Yorker, covering international politics, Russia, LGBT rights, and gender issues.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 21, 2018
I really like this book and I absolutely support the logic behind its conception, which is explained in the introduction. It taps into traditions of samizdat and queer circles. In this increasingly bonkers world, especially given prejudice and hatred towards LGBT communities and the divide between Russia and the West, I think it's important to have books like this.
It's a very good book for someone studying Russian (or English), because of the parallel format but also because it's conversational speech about everyday lives, so you really get useful vocabulary. The stories are nice, but they're very short (which is great from a language learner's point of view, but also means you don't get sucked in, in the way that I like more). It's very much a slice of life kind of deal. It's not the best of its kind: they're very simplistic in a lot of ways, which I think is a shame, but I fully recommend it.
It's a very good book for someone studying Russian (or English), because of the parallel format but also because it's conversational speech about everyday lives, so you really get useful vocabulary. The stories are nice, but they're very short (which is great from a language learner's point of view, but also means you don't get sucked in, in the way that I like more). It's very much a slice of life kind of deal. It's not the best of its kind: they're very simplistic in a lot of ways, which I think is a shame, but I fully recommend it.
July 23, 2021
Love wins. Love will win.
March 6, 2026
A great collection of interviews and stories of Russian queers from before 2014. It is bilingual English and Russian with the Russian and English texts separated edited by Masha Gessen and Joseph Huff-Hannon .
So many wonderful stories that reminded me of my own interviews. I never tire of reading stories like these. I even found an old friend’s story here— Olgerta. (There may be more and people’s names have been changes.) Olgerta has emigrated to Europe so she is called by name. She produced the great lesbian journal Ostrov (Island) in Moscow for years. That side of her does not come out in the interview but I have great admiration and respect for her amazing work publishing and circulating writings by lesbians in Russia.
Many interviewers were involved in this collection besides Masha Gessen and Joseph Huff-Hannon. YouTube activist Karen Shainyan, is one interviewer. The book was pulled together for the infamous Sochi Olympics where Putin linked LGBT people with pedophilia. In the introduction prominent Moscow journalist Masha Gessen (now in the U.S.) tells their own story of having to leave Russia at that time because of fears for their family’s safety.
The lives of queers in Russia are captured well here and fascinating to read. The stories are reminiscent of my own book Pink Flamingos:10 Siberian Interviews first published in 2004 in Russia.
Also published quite a few years ago in 2014 Gay Propaganda includes romances as well as stories of terrible discrimination. Many of the couples’ stories are fraught with objections and violence from their parents. While the repression is strong, people keep on surviving.
The government of course is a big problem. In 2013 strict laws against being publicly gay in any way were enacted. Not only activists but bar owners and others have been imprisoned for public LGBT organizing. It is officially against the law in Russia to have a “non-traditional sexual relationship.”
Queers who have children fear they will be taken away. Some like Olga Kurachyova, work to help LGBT young people:
“I’m still upset about the plight of single-sex families with children in Russia. I’m very afraid for LGBT teens. But worrying about others and trembling with fear for your own family are very different things.”
More recently in 2023. Putin and Russia’s Supreme Court designated the “international LGBT movement” as an extremist organization, with participation or financing punishable by up to 12 years in prison. They have also declared the rainbow flag a forbidden symbol and thousands of people are still being threatened with jail for being open. Some have been jailed for activity on social media.
I personally don’t understand how people can continue to live in Russia in this situation. Many have emigrated of course. In a monologue by Sergei who is HIV positive, living in Russia: “The older you get, the faster the days go by. When you’re young, a day is as long as a year. Now, I desperately want to run for a little longer.”
So many wonderful stories that reminded me of my own interviews. I never tire of reading stories like these. I even found an old friend’s story here— Olgerta. (There may be more and people’s names have been changes.) Olgerta has emigrated to Europe so she is called by name. She produced the great lesbian journal Ostrov (Island) in Moscow for years. That side of her does not come out in the interview but I have great admiration and respect for her amazing work publishing and circulating writings by lesbians in Russia.
Many interviewers were involved in this collection besides Masha Gessen and Joseph Huff-Hannon. YouTube activist Karen Shainyan, is one interviewer. The book was pulled together for the infamous Sochi Olympics where Putin linked LGBT people with pedophilia. In the introduction prominent Moscow journalist Masha Gessen (now in the U.S.) tells their own story of having to leave Russia at that time because of fears for their family’s safety.
The lives of queers in Russia are captured well here and fascinating to read. The stories are reminiscent of my own book Pink Flamingos:10 Siberian Interviews first published in 2004 in Russia.
Also published quite a few years ago in 2014 Gay Propaganda includes romances as well as stories of terrible discrimination. Many of the couples’ stories are fraught with objections and violence from their parents. While the repression is strong, people keep on surviving.
The government of course is a big problem. In 2013 strict laws against being publicly gay in any way were enacted. Not only activists but bar owners and others have been imprisoned for public LGBT organizing. It is officially against the law in Russia to have a “non-traditional sexual relationship.”
Queers who have children fear they will be taken away. Some like Olga Kurachyova, work to help LGBT young people:
“I’m still upset about the plight of single-sex families with children in Russia. I’m very afraid for LGBT teens. But worrying about others and trembling with fear for your own family are very different things.”
More recently in 2023. Putin and Russia’s Supreme Court designated the “international LGBT movement” as an extremist organization, with participation or financing punishable by up to 12 years in prison. They have also declared the rainbow flag a forbidden symbol and thousands of people are still being threatened with jail for being open. Some have been jailed for activity on social media.
I personally don’t understand how people can continue to live in Russia in this situation. Many have emigrated of course. In a monologue by Sergei who is HIV positive, living in Russia: “The older you get, the faster the days go by. When you’re young, a day is as long as a year. Now, I desperately want to run for a little longer.”
May 24, 2018
A collection of first-person interviews from a pretty broad range of LGBTQ folks in Russia, collected more or less on the Eve of the 2014 Olympics. Think it deserves wider attention than it's received...
February 7, 2018
When my friend Wioletta showed me the cover of this book, I thought ‘Noo, I don’t feel like engaging in that discussion...’ However, having read these personal and eye-opening stories, seeing and imagining the discrimination, abuse and horror these people have experienced in Russia, I truly felt a lot more knowleadgable on the current state of Russian LGBTI issues (we all know in the West what is happening there is by no means normal, but do we willingly seek to know more!?)
Overall a good read. I’ll pass this book to anyone who’s interested. Also, it is both in Russian and English, thus making the stories available to a wider audience.
Overall a good read. I’ll pass this book to anyone who’s interested. Also, it is both in Russian and English, thus making the stories available to a wider audience.
June 9, 2015
Russian translation is not very good.
January 11, 2023
Citaat : Ze huilde drie dagen onafgebroken en maakte zich zorgen of ze de buren nog wel onder ogen kon komen.Ik zei tegen haar dat er niets was veranderd, dat ik nog steeds van haar hield en dat ik nog steeds dezelfde was. Het enige wat er was veranderd, was dat ze nu wist dat ze nu wist dat ik homo was, maar dat zou ons alleen maar dichter bij mekaar brengen. Uiteindelijk zag ze dit alles ook wel in en op de vierde dag, toen ze eenmaal was opgehouden met huilen, begon ze me zelfs adviezen te geven over hoe ik jongens moest versieren.
Review : In ‘Gay Propaganda – Liefdesverhalen uit Rusland’ vertellen homo’s, lesbiennes, transgenders en biseksuelen over hun leven onder het Poetinregime. De Russische president Vladimir Poetin tekende in juni 2013 een wetsvoorstel dat elke propaganda van de zogenoemde niet-traditionele relaties verbiedt. In de maanden die volgden nam het geweld tegen homoseksuelen en transgenders door heel Rusland extreme vormen aan. De homofobe overheidscampagne gaat echter onverminderd door.
Als weerwerk tegen deze discriminerende wet besloten Masha Gessen, schrijfster,(vooral bekend van De man zonder gezicht, een onthullende biografie over Poetin die in meer dan vijftig landen verscheen) journaliste en fervent voorvechtster van de rechten van seksuele minderheden en Joseph Huff-Hannon schrijver, journalist en campaigner bij Avaaz.org, een internationale mensenrechtenorganisatie, literair weerwerk te bieden. Gay Propaganda: liefdesverhalen uit Rusland is een provocatief verweer tegen het verbod op ‘homoseksuele propaganda’ in Rusland. Het boek bevat verhalen van mannen en vrouwen die al jaren een relatie hebben met iemand van hetzelfde geslacht. Mensen die de liefde hebben gevonden of er nog altijd naar op zoek zijn en de uitdaging aangaan om hun leven in Rusland voort te zetten of noodgedwongen hun heil ergens anders proberen te zoeken.
In de meeste gevallen gaat het om dubbelinterviews met koppels, er zijn enkele monologen. Inhoudelijk is er voldoende variatie, sommige liefdes zijn harmonieus, andere moeilijk. Sommigen krijgen last wanneer ze uit de kast komen, andere niet. Sommige ouders vervloeken hun kinderen, anderen willen hen alleen maar gelukkig zien. Verschillende vertellers merken op dat het land onder Poetin terugkeerde naar de Middeleeuwen. Ze benadrukken dat niet enkel homorechten worden geschonden maar alle mensenrechten. De oudste getuigen zijn vrouwen die eerder getrouwd waren met mannen – zo zijn er wel meer in deze bundel. Ze groeiden op in de Sovjet-Unie: ‘Er bestonden toen helemaal geen lesbiennes, er bestond überhaupt geen seks.‘ Er passeren in dit boek soms echt pijnlijke verhalen, maar net zoals Masha Gessen in haar voorwoord stelt zullen er waarschijnlijk holebis zijn nog ergere dingen meegemaakt hebben maar die uit angst om herkend te worden niet durven spreken.
Review : In ‘Gay Propaganda – Liefdesverhalen uit Rusland’ vertellen homo’s, lesbiennes, transgenders en biseksuelen over hun leven onder het Poetinregime. De Russische president Vladimir Poetin tekende in juni 2013 een wetsvoorstel dat elke propaganda van de zogenoemde niet-traditionele relaties verbiedt. In de maanden die volgden nam het geweld tegen homoseksuelen en transgenders door heel Rusland extreme vormen aan. De homofobe overheidscampagne gaat echter onverminderd door.
Als weerwerk tegen deze discriminerende wet besloten Masha Gessen, schrijfster,(vooral bekend van De man zonder gezicht, een onthullende biografie over Poetin die in meer dan vijftig landen verscheen) journaliste en fervent voorvechtster van de rechten van seksuele minderheden en Joseph Huff-Hannon schrijver, journalist en campaigner bij Avaaz.org, een internationale mensenrechtenorganisatie, literair weerwerk te bieden. Gay Propaganda: liefdesverhalen uit Rusland is een provocatief verweer tegen het verbod op ‘homoseksuele propaganda’ in Rusland. Het boek bevat verhalen van mannen en vrouwen die al jaren een relatie hebben met iemand van hetzelfde geslacht. Mensen die de liefde hebben gevonden of er nog altijd naar op zoek zijn en de uitdaging aangaan om hun leven in Rusland voort te zetten of noodgedwongen hun heil ergens anders proberen te zoeken.
In de meeste gevallen gaat het om dubbelinterviews met koppels, er zijn enkele monologen. Inhoudelijk is er voldoende variatie, sommige liefdes zijn harmonieus, andere moeilijk. Sommigen krijgen last wanneer ze uit de kast komen, andere niet. Sommige ouders vervloeken hun kinderen, anderen willen hen alleen maar gelukkig zien. Verschillende vertellers merken op dat het land onder Poetin terugkeerde naar de Middeleeuwen. Ze benadrukken dat niet enkel homorechten worden geschonden maar alle mensenrechten. De oudste getuigen zijn vrouwen die eerder getrouwd waren met mannen – zo zijn er wel meer in deze bundel. Ze groeiden op in de Sovjet-Unie: ‘Er bestonden toen helemaal geen lesbiennes, er bestond überhaupt geen seks.‘ Er passeren in dit boek soms echt pijnlijke verhalen, maar net zoals Masha Gessen in haar voorwoord stelt zullen er waarschijnlijk holebis zijn nog ergere dingen meegemaakt hebben maar die uit angst om herkend te worden niet durven spreken.
June 18, 2025
Эта книга — сборник любовных и семейных историй представителей ЛГБТК+. В целом книга мне понравилась, читается быстро и легко. Не хватило разве что каких-то небольших заключений или размышлений от авторов, хотя бы в конце сборника.
Из минусов отмечу, что перевод на русский язык действительно вышел не слишком удачным, есть ошибки в тексте.
Из минусов отмечу, что перевод на русский язык действительно вышел не слишком удачным, есть ошибки в тексте.
September 15, 2018
Oral history, collections of edited interviews, ‘samizdat’ style.
June 16, 2020
Very much like reading Alexievitch. A beautiful and generally uplifting collection of stories.
December 26, 2014
I love the story of this book and how its authors imagine it doing work in the world. Published shortly before the Sochi Olympics, the book is in both English and Russian. The book of the Russian stories was distributed freely so that gay and lesbian Russians could read it and share it. This book is a contemporary action against the homophobia in Russia. That part is awesome. The stories themselves are interesting, though they felt highly edited and performed.
June 29, 2015
I loved reading this book. So many varied stories, and I learned a lot about the variety of experiences people have had in Russia. As a non-native Russian speaker, the two-language structure of the book allowed me to learn a lot of vocabulary! Some of the stories deviated from the theme of the book (i.e. the ones about single people), as if maybe they couldn't find enough love stories to profile, and I wish there had been a wrap-up essay from the editors, maybe with some statistics for context.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews