Russian American journalist and lesbian mom Masha Gessen is leaving her Russian home for the U.S., she told the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper. She fears the harsh new laws against “homosexual propaganda” put her family at risk, especially given her activism and visibility.
Although she had previously said she would stay in Russia to fight against the laws, her mind changed “when I realized they were threatening my children directly,” she told CBC Radio.
Gessen explained to the Guardian that when the anti-gay laws were passed in the city of St. Petersburg last year:
Whatever they meant by “homosexual propaganda”, I probably did it. I had two kids and a third on the way (my girlfriend was pregnant), which would mean I probably did it in front of minors. And this, in turn, meant the laws could in fact apply to me. First, I would be hauled in for administrative offences and fined and then, inevitably, social services would get involved.
The laws recently became federal, along with laws against adoptions by same-sex couples and by single people from countries where same-sex couples can marry. More frighteningly, “The head of the parliamentary committee on the family pledged to create a mechanism for removing children from same-sex families.”
That was the final straw for Gessen. “I just become terrified,” she told CBC Radio. “We are the only out same-sex family in the country, as absurd as that may sound. . . . We are really the only people who are out as a family.”
She has already sent her eldest son, who is adopted, to the U.S., out of fears a court could annul his adoption. She also fears a court could use the new laws to deem her an unfit parent.
She explained to CBC Radio: “It’s also just become untenable for my kids to live in this atmosphere where, because LGBT people have become the targets of choice in this xenophobic campaign that the Kremlin has launched, it’s constantly in the public eye, so my 11-year-old daughter goes to school like one would go to war.” Although the principal of the school is an ally, she says, not all of the students are as understanding. “She’s always in debates and I see how stressful it is for her.”
Gessen acknowledges that her family is lucky in having the means to move to the U.S., and asks that we remember the thousands of LGBT families and individuals who cannot.
Go read the full article and listen to her CBC interview for more details about her family and her thoughts on the new laws in general.
Thanks to the Arcus Foundation for their tweet that alerted me to the Guardian piece.