world new s
S o v ie t
"S to n e w a ll"
Moscow and Leningrad lesbian and gay pride events dubbed
Soviet“Stonewall” and attract nearly 20,000 people
T
by Rex Wockner
OSCOW-When the final tally scores of other topics.
A member of the Leningrad City Council
was complete, it was estimated
that nearly 20,000 people partici­ addressed the opening plenary session there, tell­
pated in the Soviet Union’s first ing Soviet gays and lesbians that the only way to
gay and lesbian pride events held win their freedom is to come out of the closet
July 23-Aug. 3 in Moscow and Leningrad.
Condom-distribution events in downtown
American organizers and several of the 70 North Leningrad and Moscow attracted more than 100
Americans who joined in the celebrations dubbed participants. In Moscow, activists made a hasty
the two weeks “the Soviet Stonewall.”
retreat in tourist buses after traffic police called
Scores of Soviet gays and lesbians said their for 800 back-up officers in response to a kiss-in
lives had been changed forever.
initiated by a group of suddenly radicalized les­
“We have much new information on what it bians from Siberia.
is to be gay,” said Arunas Dainauskas of Vilnius,
The Soviet Union’s first planned gay-rights
Lithuania. “It is very difficult to speak of what demonstration took place the next day on the
your visit means to us.”
steps of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater-attracting
“One year ago, it would have been incredible 200 activists, a horde of reporters, and about 500
to think of events like this,” said Roman Kalinin, onlookers.
founder of the Moscow Gay and Lesbian Union
The protestors demanded the repeal of Article
and, in essence, of the Soviet gay movement it­ 121.1 of the Russian Republic Penal Code,
self. “We will remember this forever.”
which punishes male-male sex with five years’
“I want to say to our American friends, you imprisonment, and called on Soviet authorities to
have infected us with the will to be free,” Kalinin move immediately to stave off HIV infection in
said. “I think we’re sick with it now. Thank the country.
Officially, there are 654 AIDS cases, accord­
you. We owe you for the fact that when we
started coming out, we were not alone...I want to ing to Dr. Irina Eramova of the All Union Cen­
say to the Soviets in this room, we have received ter for AIDS, who admitted that the figure is
help from the West; now it’s our turn to do our inaccurate.
part to advance the movement.”
The North American delegation featured sev­
Similar sentiments were expressed over and eral major figures in the gay and lesbian move­
over by the hundreds of delegates who attended ment, including Canadian member of Parliament
the four-day gay and lesbian symposiums in Svend Robinson, who addressed the closing ple­
Moscow and Leningrad, the thousands who nary session in Moscow, wearing a
crowded into the Soviet Union’s first gay film “Silence= Death” T-shirt. “We are sending a
festivals, and the brave 200 who staged the powerful message...that we will accept nothing
country’s first gay-rights demonstration.
less than full equality. The greatest barriers that
American organizers were repeatedly stunned face our community are invisibility and silence.
at the turnouts for the events, saying they had no And as the slogan suggests, silence equals death
idea so many Soviet gays and lesbians would risk and action equals life. Thank you for breaking
being known as homosexual. The events were the silence. Thank you for making our commu­
heavily-and objectively, translators said-covered nity in the Soviet Union not only visible, but
strong and proud. We stand together today in
by the Soviet media.
With only minor exceptions (all in the past pride and solidarity, as family. We shall over­
two years) life for Soviet gay males has consisted come.”
of careful cruising in parks and toilets, and So­
Most North American delegates were
viet lesbian life has been all but non-existent, shocked at the social and economic “shambles”
delegates said. Now, the possibilities seem un­ that surrounded them during their visit.
limited, some overwhelmed delegates suggested.
Long lines were seen outside near-empty
The Moscow film festival attracted 16,000 stores. Routine goods were unavailable-such
people, organizers said, making it the fifth-larg- things as clothes (in the right size), watches, toi­
est gay film festival in the world. It was staged letries, lighters, pet food and hundreds of ordi­
by Frameline, which organizes San Francisco's nary items.
film festival. There were several screenings each
During the Moscow conference, the govern­
of Coming Out (East Germany), Desert Hearts, ment announced that foreign passports will
The Times o f Harvey Milk, Maurice, My Beauti­ henceforth cost 1,000 rubles. That’s more than
ful Laundrette and November Moon.
three months’ salary for an average Soviet
"The films provided the first visual exposure worker. Several American delegates left money
of lesbian and gay relationships on the screen for with their new Soviet friends, who hope to visit
the audience members and they’ve been ex­ the Unified States.
Ultimately, said many Soviet and American
tremely moved-beyond the point of being able to
speak-at seeing men kiss each other and women delegates, the success of the Soviet gay and les­
kiss each other on the screen-and the loving re­ bian rights movement will depend on whether
lationships depicted in the films,” said the Soviet Union survives the seemingly impend­
ing social-economic collapse.
Frameline’s Tom DiMaria.
If the country achieves democracy, a market
About 1,000 people attended the Moscow
symposium July 29-Aug. 1. In Leningrad, 300 economy, and human-rights protections, then the
people participated in identical events held lesbian and gay movement will mushroom, they
July 23-28, and an additional 130 showed up for said. The recent coup attempt and demise of the
the films. Workshops focused on gay culture, Communist party appears to indicate that lesbian
coming out, sodomy-law repeal, the gay press, and gay liberation in the Soviet Union will hap­
anti-gay violence, AIDS treatment, Marxism, and pen in this era.
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