I took Russian my first 12 months of school. We had course necessities to meet, and certainly one of them was taking plenty of language credit. I’d spent the earlier 5 years finding out Latin, so I wished one thing completely completely different. In addition to, I’d all the time wished to go to Siberia.

There’s one thing concerning the huge area that fascinates me; the great thing about the altering landscapes, the traditional cultural historical past, the depths of Lake Baikal. A species of seal lives there, within the deepest freshwater lake on the earth, that’s the solely solely freshwater seal in existence. Scientists haven’t discovered precisely how these seals received to Lake Baikal, solely that they’ve been there for two million years.

I handed my courses – as soon as you determine the Cyrillic alphabet, Russian is definitely fairly straightforward to choose up – however I’ve by no means made it to Siberia. It is because my faculty years coincided with an enormous uptick in homophobia in Russia, and I’ve all the time been a proud and loud queer lady. My junior 12 months in faculty – when college students historically examine overseas – was 2013, the identical 12 months that Russia handed what has been known as the “homosexual propaganda” regulation. I spent my junior 12 months in Massachusetts.

Russia’s homosexual propaganda regulation, formally titled “On Defending Youngsters from Info Dangerous to Their Well being and Growth,” bans “the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors.” Principally, it’s unlawful to depict homosexual and transgender individuals in a optimistic mild anywhere the place a toddler may see it.  The wording of the regulation was imprecise sufficient to permit it for use as an excuse to arrest and prosecute any LGBT people dwelling their lives proudly and publicly.

That is what many right-wing conservative politicians wish to do right here in America. They’ll begin a bit smaller, in fact. In any case, we’re a lot much less culturally homophobic than our Russian cousins. However have a look at Florida, on the “don’t say homosexual” regulation, which is formally often called “Parental Rights in Schooling.” It bans dialogue of gender and sexuality in faculties for youngsters youthful than third grade, and it’s vaguely worded, which is intentional. The aim of this regulation is to make academics fearful about mentioning something tangentially associated to LGBTQ individuals within the classroom.

Look ahead to this tactic to proceed: benignly titled, vaguely worded legal guidelines that purport to be for the aim of defending youngsters (a aim that no person can argue with). They are going to be used to persecute LGBTQ individuals – not simply to arrest and jail them, but in addition to push them out of public life by means of making a local weather of concern. They might converse completely different languages, however each American and Russian Christofascists assume that queer individuals like me shouldn’t exist and can do something they will to wipe us off the face of the earth. Russia’s governments desires to try this, too. It’s been reported that, previous to the invasion of Ukraine, “kill lists” of Ukrainian LGBTQ activists have been drawn up.

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It’s not that Ukraine is a superb place to be queer. It’s ranked No. 39 out of the 49 European nations on Rainbow Europe’s rankings of LGBTQ rights and equality. (Russia, by the best way, is No. 46.) However Ukraine has been, slowly however certainly, making strides in the appropriate path. (Russia, not within the slightest.) There’s a video from 2019 by which President Volodymyr Zelensky confronts a heckler yelling gross antisemitic and homophobic crud, and Zelensky says, “Go away these individuals alone, for God’s sake!”

“Go away these individuals alone”! Would that each one political leaders adopted his recommendation. My first ideas, when Russia invaded Ukraine, have been for my queer siblings. Some are hiding, some are combating, some have fled. None ought to have to fret about being floor to mud beneath the heel of a rustic that doesn’t assume they need to exist. Identical as right here in America.

I might move for straight very simply. I can mix into heterosexual tradition fairly properly. I’m very historically female in look, and I’m at present in a relationship with a person, and since I occur to be fairly keen on him, I intend to stay that means. However I’m queer. At all times have been and all the time can be.

My rights to be an annoyingly loud bisexual lady have been gained by the blood of my ancestors. I fear for all my queer siblings trapped beneath dictatorships all over the world. Proper now, the entrance line is in Ukraine. It gained’t keep there. Glory to Ukraine. God bless America. And will the Christian god cowl all earthly queer people in glory.

Victoria Hugo-Vidal is a Maine millennial. She might be contacted at:
[email protected]
Twitter: @mainemillennial

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