Normal pride

September 29th. The Little Norwegian city of Kirkenes is 15 km from the Russian-Norwegian border. Rainbow flags, banners in Russian, Norwegian and English, travek artists with the mayor of the city at the head of the column, many children, smiling police with rainbow flags attached to the chevrons. Despite the sun, it’s cold. The Norwegians are talking among themselves, the Russian throat the songs: "I am free like a bird in heaven" and chants: "Love is human right!"

The second Barents-Prade, which the Murmansk initiative LGBT group "Maximum" holds together with the Amnesty International and the Norwegian LGBT organization of FRI, was not much different from large prides. Only the people - 300 people, many on their chests No Photo - they came here from Russia and are afraid of persecution at home. Last year, three participants were interviewed in detail by the FSB officers on the border, and the Murmansk Internet exploded with homophobic posts, but the business did not go further.

A. emigrated to Norway from Kabardino-Balkaria, Alla came to Barents Prade from Murmansk

"I first wanted to stick No Photo, but then I somehow carried away and thought: what to be afraid of?" -says 51-Lenaya resident of Murmansk Alla . Alla is not a LGBT activist, she came to the Barents Pramid, "because everything is already prohibited in Russia." The last straw, according to her, was one of the many criminal cases of extremism and insulting the feelings of believers - against a resident of Barnaul for publishing photographs of the procession on a broken road with a signature: "There are two troubles in Russia - fools and ...". “Yes, I myself could repent such a picture,” says Alla and adds: “My legs are refused. I live in the dead Khrushchev.” When I can’t walk anymore - at least there will be something to remember. " By the way, the Russian police did not find the call to burn gays in gas chambers in the threats of activists after the past Barentz-Praida, and calls to burn gays in gas chambers.

Alla is one of 76 Russians who came to Kirkenes from Russia. According to Valentina Likhoshva, a member of the Council of the Murmansk "Maximum", only 15 of them are activists, the rest are simply representatives of the LGBT community from Petrozavodsk, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg, who sent applications for participation (it was necessary to explain why it was important for a person to get to the Pride). Most of them paid the road and accommodation.

Police and the Church with LGBT

The reaction of social networks to pride 2017

The motivation of the participants is similar: to get acquainted with people, to see how this is generally in civilized countries, where, having gone out with a rainbow flag, you do not need to be afraid of the attack of homophobes or even police officers. On the contrary, the Kirkenes police representative spoke to the participants, saying that by law the police are obliged to ensure the safety of citizens, so people should not be afraid in the form. The Russian Law on the police says the same, for example, in St. Petersburg, the court sentenced several LGBT activists to fines for a total of 450 thousand rubles-single pickets not prohibited by law.

According to activists, Pride abroad is not just a sip of fresh air, it is a clear illustration that there is hope, because LGBTs in Norway used to have the same problems as the Russians. But so far the situation in Russia is not at all for the better: “The level of aggression has been going through the recently,” says Valentina Likhov . “If before the story with the fact that parents drove the children out of the house, were rare, today you will not surprise anyone.” So, for example, a 20-year-old participant in the Pride from Murmansk S.-a transgender, whom parents tried for a long time to make a “normal girl”, or “at least a lesbian”, and when they realized that nothing was happening, they threw it out into the street. S. dreams of becoming a conductor, excitedly talks about Rachmaninov’s concerts, but so far is forced to work as an instructor in a fitness center-he copies money to move to St. Petersburg, where he will undergo an operation to change the floor.

According to Likhoshva, in recent years, homophobic attacks, extortion and blackmail have become more frequent in Russia, and the police usually do not want to investigate such crimes, and a single decision of the Murmansk court, which recognized in 2017 that extortion against gay was committed based on hatred or enmity in relation to a social group, is considered a great victory. At the same time, representatives of the Russian LGBT community have less and less opportunities to protect their rights every year: the law on foreign agents led to the closure of almost all regional LGBT organization, now these are “initiative groups”, which are not just difficult to work with the authorities-they simply do not notice them.

Rainbow service in Kirkh Kirkenes

Priest Yakov Krotov in rainbow service. Behind him is the chairman of the Council of the initiative LGBT group "Maximum" from Murmansk Sergey Alekseenko and his spouse, travee artist Melony Long

If an insult to the feelings of believers became one of the reasons that brought the Murmansk Alla in Kirkenes, the Church plays a completely different role in Norway: the day before the local Lutheran Kirch was the "Rainbow Service" in three languages: Norwegian, Russian and the language of the Small people of the Sami. “The Lord created all the people in his image and likeness, thank him for the fact that we are different,” said the pastor in the rainbow epitrachil, recalling that in Norway the church was once part of the state repressive apparatus, and today it, together with the state, is on the protection of minorities. However, as Radio Liberty Pastor Jan Biang Sudal , who specially arrived at the Barents-Prade from Oslo, explained to the Norwegian Lutheran Church for a long time, the debates about LGBT and gay gay.

“The progressive and conservative wings of the Church agreed that the attitude to LGBT would not lead to a schism,” the pastor says. “We respect the reluctance of some of our colleagues to make gay brothers, but we believe that LGBT people should not suffer. If the pastor in your city does not want to marry gays and lesbians, the bishop must find another pastor that will come to your church.” In the Church of Kirkenes, one gay see at the beginning of this year has yet been concluded. According to the local pastor Torbjorn Brocks Webber , his Kirch is open to everyone: if the inhabitants of Russia turn to him, he will be able to marry them, however, in Russia such a marriage will not be recognized.

Travei artists from Murmansk and St. Petersburg at the head of the column

In general, there were many Russians who married in other countries on the pride: in the USA or, for example, Denmark (gay marriages between citizens of third countries are also concluded in Portugal and South Africa). “This marriage is still a marriage,” says Sergey Alekseenko, chairman of the Murmansk Murmansk Murmansk Murmansk “maximum”. “And the relationship inside the couple becomes more serious. And even according to the Norwegian laws, this is a marriage, if God forbid that it happens during the trip.” Sergei married his partner in New York last year. The next step is the wedding in Kirkenes. According to Sergei, he himself went to church for 25 years, but then the Rhetoric of the Russian Orthodox Church in relation to the LGBT turned it into an atheist. However, religion is important for his husband, who insists on the wedding.

Chechnya in Norway

Last year, there were a lot of posters with calls to stop the persecution of LGBT people in Chechnya on the pride in Kirkenes. This year, some LGBT refugees from the North Caucasus, who received a refuge in the Norway, were able to personally come to Kirkenes, however-in the regime of even greater secrecy, their relatives often do not know about their whereabouts. The 21-year-old A. asked not to mention his name, but agreed to the publication of the photo: "If you fight, then with an open face." A. moved to Norway in February. He was from the village near Nalchik, he lived in Moscow, in 2017 his boyfriend, the Chechen disappeared in Grozny, A. began to name the relatives of the missing person, threaten him, some girl came to his parents in Kabardino-Balkaria, showed them a photo of A. in cosmetics and a wig-obviously from his friend's phone. Parents said that if A. returns home, "he is the end." Today, A. receives a benefit of 8,000 Norwegian crowns (64 thousand rubles), of which 3,500 (28 thousand) gives for an apartment. The rest is enough for food and the gym: "If you cook at home and not buy coffee in a cafe." The integration program is designed for two years, for which A. must learn the language and either enter the university or find a job. However, if it doesn’t work out, the program can be extended, but A. is configured to learn the Norwegian, move to Oslo and learn to the director.

Valentina Likhoshva from the Murmansk Initiative LGBT group "Maximum" and Sharpei Shihan

There are a lot of emigration stories with a happy ending, but, according to Valentina Likhoshva, the process is not as simple as it seems: after the first wave of the scandal with the pursuit of gays in Chechnya, the topic “went into circulation”, the number of appeals did not decrease, the persecution continues. At the same time, Western human rights organizations and embassies do not want to “make complex political decisions” and look at the Caucasian gays with suspicion. “This is a vicious circle,” Likhoshva believes. “They say that our wards should get a visa, and then, being in the territory of the state, to ask for asylum. But they do not give visas, because they know that they will ask for refuge.” According to Likhoshva, we are talking only about dozens of people a year - there are not many for the migration system of Western countries.

At the same time, it is almost impossible to live in Russia in Russia with “light” gays and lesbians from the Caucasus: relatives will certainly begin to look for them by connecting law enforcement agencies. “It’s even dangerous to live abroad,” says Likhoshva. “I know at least two cases when the girls who had already left were returned back.” One of them received a residence permit in one of the EU countries, but at the arrival of "the brothers took her under her arms - the mother supposedly asked her to escort her to a third country, because she poorly versed in airplanes: they say, daughter, led me." There has been no connection with the girl for 7 months. The second girl was traveling to France through Germany, relatives caught her at the bus stop, stole her, kept 9 months locked up, but could not take her back - she threw her passport. However, the Russian consulate in Bonn, in violation of the law, issued a certificate of return to Russia to relatives (the girl herself did not apply for him). She was taken to her homeland, but she managed to flee again, and today she is safe.

Before leaving home - the next security seminar: how to behave, if employees of Russian law enforcement agencies invite "to a conversation" (there is no such procedural action), how, when communicating with the authorities, not to harm themselves and relatives - today the "normal" police and the church will remain abroad, and the PRIDE participants will look at the threat of Russian statehood and traditional values.