Closed, destroyed, erased forever

In the Nizhny Tagil, the founder of the Children-404 project, dedicated to the assistance of LGBT teenage, 25-year-old journalist Lena Klimov was accused of promoting non-traditional sexual relations among minors.

On January 31, an administrative protocol was drawn up on Klimov on a request from the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Vitaly Milonov.

According to the document, law enforcement officers considered the propaganda of the project group on the VKontakte social network, where participants communicate with each other, publish open letters, and also receive the necessary assistance to psychologists and lawyers. Now the journalist faces a fine of 50 to 100 thousand rubles. It also does not exclude the closure of the group, which, in her opinion, will cause “irreparable harm” to thousands of LGBT teenage, who will be deprived of the opportunity to share their problems and adapt in society.

Vitaly Milonov himself, commenting on the situation in the media, said that “most likely, financing of this group is carried out at the expense of foreign grants. She should at least be recognized as a foreign agent. She should be forbidden to engage in politics, and, of course, this group should be closed, destroyed, erased forever from all social networks of Russia. ”

Lena Klimova talked about how absurd to be accused of propaganda of homosexuality among minors for letters of minors themselves.

- According to Milonov, it is not clear who must be recognized as a foreign agent - I or the group. I hear this nonsense about foreign financing from every iron. It is not clear what it is based on. It’s not good to lie, I would say.

- The start date of the trial is already known?

- Not yet.

- How are you going to build your protection? What does the lawyer say?

- The lawyer says we break through. How we will build protection, I have not yet been interested in her. But, I think, there are almost no chances to win the process. I suspect that there is a political order. When in mid -January I went to the investigator, he himself told me that he did not see signs of an offense and refuse to initiate the case. And then they unexpectedly called me again, and the same investigator admitted that he was forced and now draw up a protocol. From which I concluded that the order was lowered from above: “Are you a fool, or what? You do not know who Milonov is. Well, instantly make a protocol! ” The interrogation lasted no more than an hour. They asked me what kind of group, why it was created, why. They also asked who LGBT and transgender are.

-Personally, what is happening reminds me of preparations for some indicative process. It is only not clear why the authorities are another scandal on the basis of LGBT before the Olympics.

- Probably, the court will be after the Olympics. They expect that the games will be held and the world community will stop worrying gay problems in Russia. Although, I am sure, this is not so. We already have 3 or 4 convicts under this law, and the latter just recently, January 30. The newspaper "Young Far East" was fined for an interview with a dismissed teacher-geem Alexander Ermoshkin. He said that "my very existence is an effective proof of gay normality." And for this phrase, the editors were fined 50 thousand.

The interrogation lasted no more than an hour. They asked who LGBT are.

As for us, this is a complete kafka. We are presented to the propaganda of homosexuality among minors, which was expressed in the letters of these very minors. This is nonsense! But in response, they say: "No, they will read and are promoted!"

- How probably is the group to close? And what are the consequences of this?

- I think the most likelihood. But we are completely ready for this. About a week ago, we started working on the site. In addition, we have a mirror on Facebook, and it is much more difficult to cover it. The site itself will be at a foreign hosting, it can also be covered by entering the register of prohibited sites, but such prohibitions are easy to get around. And the closure of the VKontakte group will cause irreparable harm. This is our largest resource. On Facebook we have 2.5 thousand subscribers, and VKontakte, where you are mostly hanging out young people, more than 16 thousand. And all psychological and moral support works only there. People write, give advice, we model discussions, and on Facebook, as a rule, foreigners and generation are older. It will be a pity that the audience will lose.

- Have you addressed the leadership of VKontakte about this story?

- About this - no. But our opponents wrote complaints into technical support several times and posted screenshots of their correspondence, from which I learned that the site management is entirely on our side. They say that they do not see signs of propaganda. Think differently - go to court. And to go to court - it’s not to write VKontakte, this must be torn off the ass from the sofa. So the ass so far only Milonov was able to tear off.

- The authorities first exert pressure on you?

- Yes, for the first time. Prior to this, no initiative groups were created against us, there were no statements, deputy requests.

- How many people are involved in the project team?

- Psychologists about 10 people, organizers - 8. Each has its own duties. For example, I am engaged in correspondence with adolescents. Someone is the placement of letters on social networks, someone is a bank of homophobes, someone-translations from foreign languages. Another is engaged in our closed VKontakte group. We have one for adolescents, for free communication.

- Why is the group for free communication closed?

- In the closed group, only adolescents and trusted adults are consisting, who come to support them. It is closed because the problems there are discussed quite personal, which can be taken out for a general discussion only anonymously, as is the case in the open group.

- You have a fairly large team. What drives these people? What motives prompted them to engage in this project?

- Motives - in addition to help - are very different. The first admin is heterosexual, it has two children. He became a LGBT activist for a very long time. The reasons are unknown to me. The next admin is a LGBT teenage, with a letter of which the project began. Another is also a heterosexual, but his daughter is a lesbian. All 50 to 50 have and personal motivations, and the desire to extend the hand of help.

It’s hard for me to talk about the motives of others, I can only about my own. Well, the motive of sexual orientation is also present, since I am bisexual. And I had to face discrimination. I was kicked out of work with a great bang, suspecting that I was a lesbian. It was a state university where I worked for a long time. At one point, they called me to the carpet and said: write by your own. And then the boss added, they say, do not pretend that I did not understand anything. I found myself in a hopeless situation and could not stand in a pose, demanding the Labor Code. And it left a huge wound in my soul. I have a friend who says that a deep psychological trauma is based on any human rights activity. Of course, the heads are smashed to someone, of course, but still the case made me feel the injustice of the world, so I help others. I do not want them to feel the same.

- In general, are there many groups like yours?

- So many. And, according to my observations, they began to grow like mushrooms after our appearance. I had to ask them to change the name more than once, because they were called “children-404”, and a porn was placed on the wall. At least the name is patent. Someone will come and write what you saw in "Children-404" children's porn, and then you prove that not a camel.

“But apparently, provocateurs create them?”

- No, not provocateurs. These are some stupid boys from the rainbow community. And I did not find groups of psychological assistance either for adolescents or even for LGBT.

So far, only Milonov was able to tear his ass so far.

-Does anyone provide a financial assistance to the project?

- No. We did not look for investors either. This has many reasons, but the main thing is that we are not an organization, not a legal entity, we are nobody. We do not exist. Just a group of caring people on a social network.

-And you do not consider the prospect of registering “children-404” as a human rights organization?

“I am afraid that no one will register us.” But in the status of the project we live well. And what are the pluses of registration? We are not interested in financial, but in the human resource. We are always happy with new lawyers, psychologists. We find them from those who have already worked with LGBT. We do not conduct interviews. We focus on the assessments of friends. I had to refuse a couple of students without a diploma who "just wanted to help." We also need translators from English, because we are often written from abroad and we plan to translate modern research on homosexuality for the site, and most of them are in English. All on a voluntary basis. That's just Milonov tells about some foreign grants.

- I suspect that it is not too sincere, but he copes well with the role.

- Yes, the journalist of Novaya Gazeta wrote to me, who was familiar with Milonov during his work with Starovoitova. Then he was the most liberal liberal. She says: do not believe all this homophobia, the wind will blow in the other direction, and Milonov will be the first to take off with him. But today homophobia is in trend. Even the media noticed us only when this red parasite ran. The news about his statement diverged very widely, including abroad. He wrote a statement back in October, and for two and a half months it descended to Nizhny Tagil. I did not advertise that I live here. And he thought I was from St. Petersburg, so I sent papers to local instances. While they found me, the pre -Olympiad time has come.

- What number of letters came during the existence of the project?

- We have existed since March 2013. And today 1067 letters have come.

- Where do the teenagers write?

- In addition to Russia, these are Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Canada, Israel. A lot of letters come from the USA.

- And from the North Caucasus?

- There were only one or two letters. The girl sent, introduced herself to Gina, but she was already 18 or 20 years old. Everything was more or less good for her, which is surprising. The other day, a letter came from a guy from a Muslim family. It was terribly hard for me to read this letter. He is 22 years old, but the problems are the same as adolescents. And thoughts about suicide, and a very poor family, there is no money. Neither father nor mother can open.

Recently, literally everyone has been turning to us for help. And just teenagers with ordinary love tragedies. I remember one amazing letter from a girl who meets a woman, and that has a 10-year-old child. She asked her to help her open her friend's daughter. Usually, children want to open to parents, and here an adult to children.

- What do teenagers suffer more from: from an inelerant society or from hatred?

- The psychologist recently said that our main problem is that adolescents who have already realized themselves write to us. And those who are in a state of acceptance almost do not write. Because a person sits and thinks that something strange is happening to him. He is gaining in Yandex “how to stop being gay”, and we definitely cannot find us at this link.

It is worth opening when several conditions are met: 1) separate housing; 2) your source of income.

And so more are written by those who accepted themselves. Everyone has different problems. Someone has unhappy love, someone has problems in relations with parents, someone is spread rot at school. On any problem - your letter. More recently, they wrote to me: “I feel gay, but I do not like it at all. I want a normal family, children, but I do not stop looking at the boys. ” And we also publish such letters. Under them in the comments, someone will definitely write: "Do not worry, be gay-normal." And someone will find propaganda in this. And what to do to the guy? Go to be treated? Where? Go pray? Everything is very difficult.

- You publish letters, the guys support in the comments. But at the same time, you almost do not talk about the activities of psychologists, about how adolescents have helped. Why?

- To be honest, I never thought about this option. And psychologists are unlikely to go for it. When I had to find out the details of one situation, they replied that they could not say anything specific, because professional ethics, medical secret prohibits this. Only in the most general terms did they describe the problem and its solution. Yes, and there is no special sense in this. The fact that we have psychologists and you can turn to them, hundreds of guys know.

- And what are they asking most often?

- Most often they ask whether it is necessary to open before the parents. This question is asked so often that I have developed a universal answer to it: if you are 100% not sure that your parents are not homophobes, then it is better not to do this. It is worth opening when several important conditions are met: 1) you will have a separate housing; 2) You will have your own source of income. Only under these conditions can you open absolutely safely. But if there is neither the first nor the second, then there is a risk.

It happens that a letter comes, where the guy writes that his parents are terrible homophobes, but he could not stand it, opened - and his parents sharply changed his mind about gays. Or vice versa: my parents seemed to be a gay friend, I calmly opened them, and they almost put me in my underpants outside. It is impossible to predict the actions of the parents, but to prohibit them to open to them too.

- And how did you personally open up to loved ones?

- It was quite difficult. And my friends accepted me without question. But as for the mother, then, alas and ah, he still does not accept. We had a difficult conversation. Do not even describe. My mother’s relationship with my mother. Although sometimes she asks me about my activism and about the project. But he doesn’t want to hear anything about personal life, he says: pretend to me that you are ordinary. And to children with a similar situation, I have every right to sympathize with the heart.

- What else unites teenagers who write to you, except for orientation?

- It is very difficult to understand, because the letters are not written according to the template. Once I conducted a survey. Only 115 people were interviewed. How many percent thought about suicide? How much did you try to implement it? How many parents opened, friends? I wanted to find some patterns. And judging by the letters, what unites them? The geographical factor is for sure. Most come from Moscow and St. Petersburg. The age is different. The youngest was 12 years old, and the eldest was 50. It was a mother whose daughter belongs to the LGBT group. All her life she treated them tolerant, and then collided on personal experience and thought.

- And they often write about suicide?

-In general, not. The majority, realizing themselves, simply perceived it as a given. At least half of those whom I interviewed. And the other tried to find a way out in a relationship with the opposite sex, hit religion, read some “right” books, communicate with psychologists. And in suicide, they rather saw not a way out of the situation, but inevitability, because they were oppressed at school, at home. They felt terrible loneliness.

I know completely wild stories. There was one girl, a lesbian. Mother did not accept her, and the girl got drunk her pills. She was taken to an ambulance, pumped out, and she writes: “Do you know what my mother said was the first when you saw me? “Did you think everyone will be happy that you were alive?” Do you imagine this?