"I want changes here"

LGBT activist from St. Petersburg Alfred Miniakhmetov-about life in Russia, on the International Day of Combating Homophobia

In Russia, LGBT activists hold shares on May 17, on the International Day of Combating Homophobia. In Khabarovsk, activist Alexander Ermoshkin, who went on such an action, was attacked , and this is only one of the many confirmations of the difficult situation in the country of the LGBT community.

In St. Petersburg, LGBT activists are known for creativity, their festivals, pickets, flash mobs in recent years have become more and more numerous and noticeable, but this does not mean that the lives of individuals are becoming better and more fun.

LGBT activist Alfred Miniakhmetov , an engineer by profession, talks about how he was fired from work, learning that he is gay:

Extend the letter of resignation, I just have to sign

- It was in May 2013. Then I worked in a design studio. I combined activism in my free time and work. After the next action, they saw a report with me at work and immediately fired me. Like, we saw you there, is it true that you are doing this? I say: yes, really. Well, then we do not see any more point to continue to cooperate with you. And they extend the application for dismissal, I only have to sign it, and that’s it.

- And you did not protest, did not say that this is illegal?

For several months I could not find a job

- I did not expect such a step from these people, they just shocked me. I worked legally, my colleagues, good people, worked on not very legal grounds, I did not want this to affect them. Because I knew that if I raise a noise, then some checks would go and these people would lose their jobs.

- As a result, you had to look for work?

- Yes. For several months I could not find a job. I was offered to participate in the project in Germany in the social sphere, in Hamburg, I went there for a year. He returned only in November last year.

“Did you have the feeling that you returned to another country, to another Petersburg?”

Low -gum information, and from people who, it would seem, are not stupid

- Probably yes. The situation has become somewhat tense and the relationship is more stretched, it can be seen how people relate to all this, and to the LGBT movement, and to the LGBT itself. For example, community people are called fascists, the "fifth column." I recently went to Ukraine to the conference, shared my impressions, emotions. And my old acquaintances, friends began to say the same thing that they broadcast on central television, that there are fascists, that we are all fascists, traitors of the Motherland, that such people are not needed here, we only do worse, bad because of us. Such low -adequate information, and from people who, it would seem, are not stupid. I did not think that this could sit in their heads.

-Have you tried to argue somehow, object?

-I tried to talk, convey some information that there were alternative sources of information, tried to turn to common sense. It turns out with someone, not with someone. It depends on a person whether he wants to hear or not.

We did not talk further, then the fight began

-They say that after the adoption of the law on gay propaganda, same-sex couples became uncomfortable and not safe to walk along the streets. This is true?

- After the adoption of this law, few people walk on the street in couples, because it is scary, and people react inadequately, from verbal insults, ending with non -verbal. The first time that I had something on the street-this is when we walked with friends, passed by a company where two guys somehow very loudly talked with the third guy. I heard that they call him gay and insult him. I went to ask if everything is in order, whether help is needed. To which they asked me: "What do you need, you are also a fag, or what?" I said that yes, and then we did not talk, then a fight began.

We left with bloodied faces, no one asked if it was necessary to help

“Did you manage to recapture this young man?”

- Yes. The most sad thing, it happened on Marat Street, was quite lively there, people went, the police, no one paid attention, no one suited, no one asked. And even after the fight, when we left with bloodied faces, no one asked if it was necessary to help, the police shook their hands. On public actions, when people have “claims” not personally to me, but to us all who came to this action is scary, it’s sad, scary for what these people can do, scary for neither the law nor the police who are nearby, do nothing to protect against open aggression. My experience shows that they are waiting to the last, then, when victims or victims appear inevitable, then they intervene, “knit” mainly on us on their bus, and we spend a very long time in the police.

- Many activists are leaving now. Do you feel this in your environment?

- I have never observed such an amount of emigration from Russia. Over the past six months, a lot of my friends have left, more than in the first wave of 2013.

I want to live here, I love my country

- You lived a year in Germany, was it easier there?

- Those fears that are in Russia, I also experienced there: you are afraid to go out into the street, talk openly, with people not from the community, I mean, at work what the neighbors will think, you are afraid to behave openly.

- And where is it worse - there or here?

- Here, of course. But I want to live here, I love my country, I love Peter, I want everything to be fine here. Yes, I have the opportunity to leave, find a job there, but I do not want, I want changes here for the country to change for the better.