One would assume it to be no surprise to you that homosexuality is a
worldwide phenomenon. This comes as a shocking revelation, however, to
those who would maintain that it is "a Western thing" or, even
worse, "an American thing." One only wonders what the Canadians,
in their "we just legalized gay marriage woo-ha"
progressiveness, think of that one—perhaps they just legalized it
because they knew none of their citizens needed the procedure but wanted
to increase tourism?
I recently took a course on Russian popular culture for idle
entertainment. Amid endless discussions of the cult of Lenin, the cult of
Stalin, and the cult of everybody else, I decided to look at the history
of homosexuality in Russia. It is most entertaining.
An interesting note about homosexuality in Russian society is that the
vast majority of books and other sources about it focus exclusively on
male homosexuality. Lesbianism is largely ignored—gee, this never
happens—and it’s an interesting commentary on gender politics in
Russian history that lesbianism was virtually never criminalized; lesbian
subculture flourished in Moscow and Saint Petersburg even when gay men
were being persecuted early and often.
Early mentions of homosexuality in Russia have to do with nobility—Prince
Vasily III of Moscow, who ruled in the early 1500s, was openly homosexual.
Vasily even went so far as to divorce his wife and shave his beard, a
visible sign of homosexuality at the time. He also was apparently an awful
lot of fun at parties. Other nobles, being relatively untouchable by the
law, were able to flout their sexual orientation with little fear of
reprisal. Some even went so far as to hire "servants" who were
essentially well-paid prostitutes. These men commonly served their masters
as coachmen, which gives a whole new slant to the idea of taking the
master for a ride in the carriage.
By the 19th century gay male culture had started to appear more often
in literature. Documents at the time address with great concern the
"growing epidemic of sex between men." The descriptions of this
"epidemic" describe the actions of tetki (literally
"aunties," it’s analogous to "queens"), effeminate
men who cruised Saint Petersburg looking for tricks, generally finding a
willing soldier and a public restroom. I will avoid drawing any parallels
to any other behavior found in other militaries; the more lurid of you are
probably already two steps ahead of me in this regard.
In this time homosexuality between men was criminalized. The reasoning
behind this ban was relatively straightforward— those men who allowed
themselves to be penetrated were assuming a women’s role, and this
passivism in men was strictly taboo. This distinction was at best
semantic, however, as both participants in sodomy, be they
"active" or "passive", were equally prosecuted.
Despite the laws, among the upper classes and artistic circles the ban on
sodomy was virtually ignored and oftentimes openly defied. Many of the
writers of the 19th century included homoerotic themes in their work,
albeit in marginalized contexts. Pushkin, although himself a heterosexual,
wrote a memorable letter to a gay memorist who he was friends with that
included a poem commiserating the difficulties of finding romantic
companionship while living in exile. He invites the man to visit him while
noting that if the friend does come, Pushkin will make a point of guarding
his ass. (I have, incidentally, started calling my best friend Pushkin.)
This relative casualness towards homosexuality was reflected in Pushkin’s
work—he dealt with the issue in "Imitation of the Arabic,"
whose verses include the sensual "Sweet lad, tender lad/ Have no
shame, you’re mine for good/ We share a sole insurgent fire, we live in
boundless brotherhood." Yikes. The power of this verse is
marginalized by his choice of setting the poem in the Middle East, which
served to make homosexuality seem far away and exotic. It is a reflection
of the lingering homophobia of Russian society that these works and others
by great Russian writers are not considered "central" to their
bodies of work and are as such commonly overlooked.
Following the October 1917 Revolution, homosexuality was theoretically
decriminalized entirely. This was despite Lenin’s anathema towards
homosexuality—since the visible homosexuals at the time were nobles, he
considered homosexuality to be yet another vice of the rich. The rise of
Stalin, however, began a new wave of persecution—a new sodomy law,
called Article 121, was formed in 1933 and the gay community was driven
underground. The community hardly vanished, however—structures already
in place could not be eradicated. Public cruising grounds in cities served
as places where men could find sex as well as exchange information about
where the police were to be cracking down on next.
America’s Stonewall Riots caused an international ripple that was
felt in Moscow. Article 121 and homosexual persecution were looked on with
increasing scrutiny by foreign gay activists. The Russian gay community
slowly began to congeal—throughout the 1980s organization occurred in
fits and starts, despite the illegality of homosexuality. The first gay
rights group, formed in 1984, was promptly disbanded by the KGB, and it
was not until 1989 that the first group, the Moscow Union of Lesbians and
Homosexuals, was allowed to exist. Because of Article 121 most of the
organizers used pseudonyms and used word of mouth to advertise.
1991 was a banner year for queers in Russia. That summer the first gay
pride was held, complete with what is quite possibly one of the best
slogans ever, "Turn Red Squares into Pink Triangles." Two years
later article 121 was finally repealed.
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