Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1992)
Out in Russia ST ★ RS AN A \ I I O L I Activist talks about being gay in the Soviet Union M A l I PRESEN I S by Matt Bailey t a Himly-lit table in an upstairs cor ner of Hobo’s, Roman Kalinin ner vously turned a glass ashtray over and over in his hands. Small and boyish at 25, the stylishly-dressed Kalinin on the first evening of his first visit to Portland hardly looked the part of a revolutionary. But a revolution is what he and a handful of followers have unleashed in the former Soviet Union, a coun try where gays and lesbians have routinely been jailed for consensual sex and where a third Among other things, according to Kalinin, of the populace said in a recent ______________________ activists are working to repeal Article 121 of the Russian penal code under which gays and lesbi survey that “ho- — — ans can be jailed for engaging in consensual sex. mosexuals’.’ should be executed. “Currently, it is more dangerous to be gay in “We must be more visible if we are to over come homophobia and fear and ignorance,” said the Soviet Union than it is to sell drugs,” said Kalinin, who is generally credited with founding Kalinin, in reference to the lighter sentences often and leading the fledgling Soviet gay and lesbian given to drug traffickers. Lack of information on AIDS and safe sex is civil rights movement “I would say our gay and also a major problem in his homeland, Kalinin lesbian visibility is about where yours was per said. haps 50 years ago.” “Officially, there are 700 AIDS cases in the Continuing to roll the ashtray in his hands while carefully considering questions from the Soviet Union, but we know there are many more local gay press, Kalinin said he did not expect any than that,” he said. “But, about 20 million people immediate improvements for Soviet gays and are tested for HTV each year against their will or lesbians just because the old Soviet Union has without their knowledge.” Generally, only gay given way to a new Commonwealth of Indepen people who read Tema know much about AIDS or safe sex, he added. dent States. Next summer, Kalinin hopes to help organize “You can change the name of the government every day of the week, but it really means nothing a conference of gay American business people in to us,” said Kalinin through his Portland inter Moscow and St. Petersburg to help establish an preter, Peter Hartikka. “When the shelves are economic base for the Soviet gay and lesbian empty under communism, they are communist rights movement empty shelves; when they are empty under the “Right now, there are no gay bars, no gay commonwealth, they are commonwealth empty restaurants, no gay establishments where people shelves.” can m eet” he said. "That has to change.” Despite the difficulties ahead, Kalinin points Kalinin’s visit to Portland was part of an with obvious pride to what the Soviet gay and American fundraising and public awareness tour lesbian rights movement has accomplished. of U.S. cities, which also included stops in Los “Actually all of our successes are big suc Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and cesses because we have never had any successes New York City. Kalinin plans to return home in before,” Kalinin declared. January. At the top of Kalinin’s list is publication of the Kalinin said he felt a particular kinship with first Soviet gay and lesbian newspaper, Tema, Portland gays and lesbians because of the threat which he edits. Last year, the Moscow City posed by the Oregon Citizens Alliance. Council officially registered Tema, giving the “Groups like the OCA would do well to re newspaper the legal right to exist and do business. member what the Ku Klux Klan did to blacks in It currently circulates 15,000 copies monthly, your country and what Hitler did to the Jews,” he mostly in Moscow and St. Petersburg (formerly said. “In our country, the communists were once Leningrad). a persecuted minority who went on to become Kalinin is also proud to be co-founder and themselves the persecutors.” current president of the Moscow Union of Lesbi Money raised on Kalinin’s behalf in Portland ans and Gay Men and to have been instrumental and elsewhere will be channeled to the San in organizing last summer’s International Gay Francisco-based International Gay and Lesbian and Lesbian Symposium and Film Festival in Human Rights Commission for use by the Soviet Moscow and St. Petersburg. He is also encour- gays rights movement, said Terry Bean, a loc*l aged by the amount of coverage the gay and organizer of Kalinin’s Portland visit. Bean said lesbian rights movement has received in the So Kalinin’s travel expenses were covered by private viet straight press. donation. ANTIQUE BY DESIGN Rediscovering the Classics + e i I A *» Net »-classic for < ountry for the* Collectibles for the the eclectic io you . unpretentious in you . fun part of you . X lie antique event of 1992, showcasing T over 120 booths of the Northwest's finest selection of antiques and collectibles. February 6, 7 & 8, 1992 Early Buying, Thursday — 6 pm to 10 pm, $10 Friday and Saturday — 10 am to 6 pm, $s A u th o r o f The Scented Room Barbara Milo Ohrbach w ill he- sig in in g her h o o k . Anti (¡tics At Hom e A C n c r c h c / n h o o k of c o lle c tin g arul eh-coraling w ith ontu|ue ^ . FA ntiaues Home A i" n t i< iu p Q 0 Memorial Coliseum ^ n 11 — Portland, O regon PHOTO B y C atherine st > A SANDRA K. PINCHES, Ph.D Individual and couple counseling Specializing in: Produce d by Stars <\ Splendid ( SO A ) 2 5 9 -0 5 If) Ine •Relationship issues * *£d.d.ICtion on£^ codependency recovery •Spiritual issues and meditation training •Tai Chi Classes 917 SW Oak, Ste. 420 Portland, OR 97205
