Out in the Mountains Gay Life in the USSR The Moscow group is sup- ported by the American IGLHRC (In- temational Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission), 2978 Folsom St., San Fran- cisco, CA 94110. Mem- bers of the lat- ter also receive Tema Inter- national, an English- langiiage sum- mary of the Moscow pub- lication. The Moscow group is led by Ro- In Leningrad an equivalent group, the Tchaikovsky Foundation for Cultural In- itiative and the Defense of Sexual Minor- ities, is led by Olga Zhuk. Kevin Moss Five years ago I could never have imagined writing an article on gay and lesbian life in Eastern Europe: basically there was noth- ing to write about--no bars, no or- ganizations, nothing but a lot of isolated lonely individuals who usually thought of themselves as mentally ill criminals. But the wave of revolutions that swept the former Soviet Empire in the last few years has changed all that. Along with other individual rights, people have begun de- manding the right to love whom they choose. Lesbians and gays have founded gay rights organiza- tions, opened gay bars, and with freedom of the press, have printed the first gay newspapers. According to popular myth, the Bolshevik revolution introduced an era of relative sexual freedom for gays and lesbians until Stalin criminalized homosexual acts again in 1933. In fact the Bolshe- vik leaders, Lenin included, were puritans who disapproved of sex- uality of any kind. Homo- sexuality was viewed as one of the many perversions of the bour- geois world that would simply vanish in the ideal Soviet State. Under Stalin any kind of differ- ence was viewed as alien and dangerous, and countless gays were rounded up and imprisoned in the late thirties just as they were in Nazi Germany. The ho- mogenization of the Soviet peo- ple proved extremely effective in promoting homophobia. Urban culture was destroyed by migra- tion, and indoctrination (in- cluding an educational system identical across the whole Soviet Union) helped foster uniform opinions on everything, including homosexuality. Homosexuality was part of the larger problem of sexuality in the Soviet Union. In the official ver- sion of Soviet culture, there was no sex of any kind: no mention of it in the media, no discussion of it in school or even with parents. With all sexuality in the closet, minority sexuality became com-_ pletely invisible. Most people would tell you that there were no gays or lesbians and that homo- sexuality didn't exist. Some So- viet gays tumed to furtive sex with strangers in toilets. Those brave enough to make contact stopped at a circle of four or five tried and reliable friends. Many surely never acted on their desires. Meanwhile, the KGB arrested people randomly or, through sex- ual entrapment, blackmailed them into serving as informers. Incredibly, a fledgling gay rights organization has sprung up in this extremely hostile environment-- the Moscow Union of Lesbians and Gay Men--and even has be- gun publishing the first gay news- paper, Tema (Theme, the inside slang expression for gay). 1990 saw the first international meeting of gay and lesbian academics and activists in Tallinn, Estonia. This summer another is planned, with the first pride marches scheduled in Moscow and Leningrad. For all the good news, it's hardly smooth sailing. The police turn a blind eye to the "fixers," gangs of punks who bash gays. Supported by right-wing nationalists and the ever more powerful mafia, they raid gay meeting places in groups or employ one of their number as bait to lure the unsuspecting gay victim to where he can be abused in relative safety. Some en- counters end in murder. The Soviet organizations are also working toward a comprehensive AIDS program. Since the Soviet Union has neither condoms nor disposable needles, it would seem to be a disaster waiting to happen. The old line was that there were neither gay men nor drug users. In spite of a new education cam- paign, including fairly explicit tel- evision ads and safe-sex posters in every drugstore (which continue to stock neither condoms nor nee- dles), even high risk groups con- tinue to believe there is no danger at all. I spoke to foreign-currency 4 prostitutes last August who weren't worried: "there's _I_l0 AIDS here." Testing is free, but there's no ques- tion of anonymity. The use of clean needles at testing centers is questionable. Still, there are oases of tolerance, particularly among the Bohemian elite of the cities: ballet dancers, actors, musicians. For the most part their tolerance (along with the high percentage of gays among them) is not communicated to the public. There are some excep- tions. One night club singer, Ser- gei Penkin, is more or less out. He dresses outrageously in harem pants and big cheap earrings. While his repertoire is trashy, his voice is incredibly flexible and his range immense. One slang term for "gay" is "blue" and at a concert he may say, "Yes, you heard right, it's true: I green!" Yet be- cause of his visibility, the author- ities have effectively banned him from large concerts and from tele- vision. He works primarily in res- taurants in hotels for foreigners-- where he is understandably ex- tremely popular. Perhaps the most effective fighter for the cause has been Roman Vik- tyuk, one of the most successful and respected directors in Mos- cow. His productions involve the best actors at the best theaters, and the underlying gay subtexts have become increasingly obvious: Sol- ogub's Misogynist, which idealizes the beauty of a 16-year-old boy; Tsvetaeva's, which treats the for- bidden love of a woman for her beautiful young stepson (who has forswom women for the hunt and the company of youths); Genet's. which Viktyuk staged with a cast of men in drag, as Genet intended. All productions sold out at all per- formances for years. The majority of the population re- mains unsympathetic. According to a recent poll in Leningrad. four2% of the people think homo- sexuals should be executed. Di- versity of lifestyles is as foreign to Continued on top of next page