"'Hooray!' they all shouted. 'You are no longer a lesbian!'"

vostok

Well-Known Member
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Gay rights activists protested outside the Russian embassy in London last summer

Family pressure has fuelled a sense of persecution felt by gay people in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia.

Dozens have fled and some have been granted asylum abroad, amid reports of kidnap and torture by Chechen security forces targeting gay or allegedly gay people. Chechen officials deny the reported abuses.

Olga Prosvirova of BBC Russian interviewed two of those who fled in fear. They requested anonymity, so their names have been changed.

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Marko, a Chechen in her early 20s, will never forget the day her family found out she was gay.

"They said to me: 'Either we will kill you, or we will lock you up in a psychiatric ward and throw away the key. The only alternative is that you undergo an exorcism.'"

Marco now lives temporarily in one of Russia's largest cities, waiting to complete her documents so that she can leave Russia for good.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov maintains that there are no homosexuals in the republic. But an investigation by the Novaya Gazeta newspaper last year found that members of Chechnya's LGBT community were regularly beaten and tortured. Some, it alleged, had even been killed.

Mr Kadyrov's spokesman Alvi Karimov dismissed the allegations, telling the Interfax news agency: "Even if such people existed in Chechnya, our law enforcement agencies would not need to bother with them, because their own relatives would simply send them to a place from which they would never return."

Marko says she knew she was different even at the age of four.

"As a teenager, I used to think about suicide," she told BBC Russian. "But then I decided: 'No, I won't give you the satisfaction. I'll run away and do the things I have always dreamed of, whatever it takes, whether you like it or not.'"

Muslim exorcism
Before she left Chechnya, Marko agreed to her family's demand that she undergo an exorcism. Her brother took her to their local mosque, where the mullah told her she was possessed by the devil.

"He held my head and read verses from the Koran, and I knew I had to respond as a person possessed would," she says. "I had seen enough YouTube videos to know what to do, and so I twisted about and shouted and said there were seven different demons inside me."

After two hours, she says, everyone rejoiced and said I was cured. "'Hooray!' they all shouted. 'You are no longer a lesbian!'"

They found a young man for her and told her she would marry, but soon after that she managed to escape.

Since giving this interview, and helped by an LGBT organisation, Marko has left Russia for a new life abroad. She says she now wants to put her past behind her and just live with her girlfriend, whom she met on social media.

"I just want to live, to have children and be happy," she says.

It is hard to find out how many Chechens like Marko have been granted refuge outside Russia, as many immigration services do not register the sexual orientation of asylum seekers.

Last year the German foreign ministry said it had accepted one gay man from Chechnya and was reviewing four more applications. Lithuania has taken in two and France one.

More than two dozen gay and bisexual men and women from Chechnya have been granted asylum in Canada.

This week Igor Kochetkov, head of the Russian LGBT Network, told Novaya Gazeta that over the past year his charity had assisted 114 people from Chechnya who said they had been persecuted because of their sexual orientation.


_100721185_chechputinafp20dec11.jpg

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (R) is a firm ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin

Ruslan is torn between his feelings for his boyfriend and love of his own family. He escaped Chechnya after being held captive for a month.

"I've liked boys since I was a kid," says Ruslan, now in his early 30s. "But when my relatives found out I was gay, they took away my passport, my documents and my mobile phone and they locked me in my room for over a month."

One day he managed to get out and borrowed a neighbour's phone. Later that night his boyfriend came to whisk him away to a different city.

'Living a lie'
Ruslan spoke of a "big purge of gays in Chechnya".

He said the Kadyrov militia "found one and beat him until he gave them the names of others.

"Some were caught and thrown into cellars and beaten violently. Some were never found: their relatives didn't even bother looking for them, because they said they'd brought shame on them."

Ruslan's new life is more difficult than he imagined it would be. He spends most of his time hiding indoors; if he goes out, he covers his head with a hood.

To earn money recently, he handed out campaign leaflets before last month's presidential election, but once he came across a police patrol and ran straight back to his flat.

Unlike Marko, Ruslan has not decided whether he should flee Russia. "I don't know what's happening at home (in Chechnya)," he says. "My brother is probably looking for me: he has most likely gone to the police."

When he talks about his family and his home, he struggles to hold back the tears. He misses his mother and young niece, he says, who is getting married soon.

"All my life I have observed our customs, according to the Koran," he says. "But I simply couldn't carry on living a lie. The only thing I wish for is that my niece, whom I love dearly, doesn't think badly of me and that her husband does not say to her: 'Your uncle is gay: your family is unclean.' I pray to Allah to protect her from this."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43658689
 
_100721192_chechdemolondonafp2jun17.jpg

Gay rights activists protested outside the Russian embassy in London last summer

Family pressure has fuelled a sense of persecution felt by gay people in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia.

Dozens have fled and some have been granted asylum abroad, amid reports of kidnap and torture by Chechen security forces targeting gay or allegedly gay people. Chechen officials deny the reported abuses.

Olga Prosvirova of BBC Russian interviewed two of those who fled in fear. They requested anonymity, so their names have been changed.

_98950366_presentational_grey_line464-nc.jpg

Marko, a Chechen in her early 20s, will never forget the day her family found out she was gay.

"They said to me: 'Either we will kill you, or we will lock you up in a psychiatric ward and throw away the key. The only alternative is that you undergo an exorcism.'"

Marco now lives temporarily in one of Russia's largest cities, waiting to complete her documents so that she can leave Russia for good.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov maintains that there are no homosexuals in the republic. But an investigation by the Novaya Gazeta newspaper last year found that members of Chechnya's LGBT community were regularly beaten and tortured. Some, it alleged, had even been killed.

Mr Kadyrov's spokesman Alvi Karimov dismissed the allegations, telling the Interfax news agency: "Even if such people existed in Chechnya, our law enforcement agencies would not need to bother with them, because their own relatives would simply send them to a place from which they would never return."

Marko says she knew she was different even at the age of four.

"As a teenager, I used to think about suicide," she told BBC Russian. "But then I decided: 'No, I won't give you the satisfaction. I'll run away and do the things I have always dreamed of, whatever it takes, whether you like it or not.'"

Muslim exorcism
Before she left Chechnya, Marko agreed to her family's demand that she undergo an exorcism. Her brother took her to their local mosque, where the mullah told her she was possessed by the devil.

"He held my head and read verses from the Koran, and I knew I had to respond as a person possessed would," she says. "I had seen enough YouTube videos to know what to do, and so I twisted about and shouted and said there were seven different demons inside me."

After two hours, she says, everyone rejoiced and said I was cured. "'Hooray!' they all shouted. 'You are no longer a lesbian!'"

They found a young man for her and told her she would marry, but soon after that she managed to escape.

Since giving this interview, and helped by an LGBT organisation, Marko has left Russia for a new life abroad. She says she now wants to put her past behind her and just live with her girlfriend, whom she met on social media.

"I just want to live, to have children and be happy," she says.

It is hard to find out how many Chechens like Marko have been granted refuge outside Russia, as many immigration services do not register the sexual orientation of asylum seekers.

Last year the German foreign ministry said it had accepted one gay man from Chechnya and was reviewing four more applications. Lithuania has taken in two and France one.

More than two dozen gay and bisexual men and women from Chechnya have been granted asylum in Canada.

This week Igor Kochetkov, head of the Russian LGBT Network, told Novaya Gazeta that over the past year his charity had assisted 114 people from Chechnya who said they had been persecuted because of their sexual orientation.


_100721185_chechputinafp20dec11.jpg

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (R) is a firm ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin

Ruslan is torn between his feelings for his boyfriend and love of his own family. He escaped Chechnya after being held captive for a month.

"I've liked boys since I was a kid," says Ruslan, now in his early 30s. "But when my relatives found out I was gay, they took away my passport, my documents and my mobile phone and they locked me in my room for over a month."

One day he managed to get out and borrowed a neighbour's phone. Later that night his boyfriend came to whisk him away to a different city.

'Living a lie'
Ruslan spoke of a "big purge of gays in Chechnya".

He said the Kadyrov militia "found one and beat him until he gave them the names of others.

"Some were caught and thrown into cellars and beaten violently. Some were never found: their relatives didn't even bother looking for them, because they said they'd brought shame on them."

Ruslan's new life is more difficult than he imagined it would be. He spends most of his time hiding indoors; if he goes out, he covers his head with a hood.

To earn money recently, he handed out campaign leaflets before last month's presidential election, but once he came across a police patrol and ran straight back to his flat.

Unlike Marko, Ruslan has not decided whether he should flee Russia. "I don't know what's happening at home (in Chechnya)," he says. "My brother is probably looking for me: he has most likely gone to the police."

When he talks about his family and his home, he struggles to hold back the tears. He misses his mother and young niece, he says, who is getting married soon.

"All my life I have observed our customs, according to the Koran," he says. "But I simply couldn't carry on living a lie. The only thing I wish for is that my niece, whom I love dearly, doesn't think badly of me and that her husband does not say to her: 'Your uncle is gay: your family is unclean.' I pray to Allah to protect her from this."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43658689
Shit like that happens here too Vostok.

Long ago when my dad was dying I was being a dutiful son and doing my best to try and lighten everybody's load. My mom had some business out of town so I accompanied her in place of my dad. During the trip she insisted on going to the church run by notorious crank, Lester Sumrall. I was not happy about it but she was my mom so I felt I had to go in with her. Besides, she is the sort of person that if I didn't she would probably blame me for not doing enough to "accept my father's healing" from cancer. So I agreed and told her I wanted to have a smoke before I went in. She should grab a seat inside and wait for me. Of course, I smoked a big fatty in order to prepare myself for what I expected to be a horrible experience.

Boy was I right.

Inside this huuuge palatial church were thousand of people and a couple million dollars worth of broadcast equipment. I found my mom who had grabbed us two seats. As it turned out, I was seated right next to one of the main cameras right in from of "Reverand" Sumrall. As a result, when this goofball started preaching, it was if he was looking directly at me. So there I am thoroughly baked with this old fuck screaming right as me. Part of his schtick was to "sense" viewers at home with problems and cure them over the telemavision airwaves. So he starts calling out various imaginary people and healing them remotely. "I see a person doubled over with terrible back pain. I cast the demons out of you that are causing you not to accept the healing that Jesus died on the cross for. Stand Up! You can walk!"

As much as I wanted to pretend that I didn't think the guy was off his fucking nut, I failed at it miserably and started to laugh. The weed made it worse and soon I was cracking the fuck up. He clearly could see me and was starting to get a little pissed off about it. He invites people up from the audience to approach the stage and receive their very own Jesus-healing. While they are queueing up he continues his rant. Finally he "sees" a homosexual and starts to deliver them from the spirit of homosexuality. When he starts screaming "I cast the demons of homosexuality out of you!!!" I pretty much lose my shit and start laughing loudly. I think I said "jesus fucking christ" loud enough to be heard over the air. Then I said "do you fucking believe this guy" while turning to my mom - all pretense of respect having been dropped - but she wasn't there. I look around quickly and sure enough, she's up at the goddamn stage waiting for her personal healing.

I sat there open mouthed and slack jawed while I watched these rubes go up on stage one after one and get "slain in the holy spirit". Each one would get Lester's personal demon casting along with a hard shove from his palm to their forehead. Damn near each one would collapse into the waiting arms of his "helpers" in a pathetic attempt at belief. The few who did not voluntarily fall backward would get practically pulled to the ground by his helpers. It was the worst thing I had ever seen and suddenly became terribly unfunny.

That was pretty much the end of my going along in silence with my mother's whack-a-doodle religion. Yes, his death was partially my fault for a few years after.

People are fucking stupid. They believe stupid shit. Maybe they always will or maybe it will go away in another few hundred generations. I don't know. I don't care. I have a kid and I will do my best to see to it that he doesn't fall for that bullshit.
 
Peeps enmasse are but sheep to be exploited by them wolfs ...shame on humans

tho it suprisingly popular getting stoned

then what ....

going to church..?

true I had to do a double check on a couple of buddies

thats seen the new light?
 
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