Friends minsk gay party
Belarus: "Lesbians and gays are a part of our society"
In Volha Malafeyechava's winning report "The story of a homosexual" a adolescent man talks about detecting his sexuality, the difficulties of having no one to talk to and about how his mother reacted when he told her he was lgbtq+. Malafeyechava's article appeared on the website of "RadioSTART", a local Belarus broadcaster. While the report focuses on the experiences of just one man, it also reflects those common by many young lesbians and gays in Belarus - a country where power holder President Alexander Lukashenko once said, "I'd rather be a dictator than gay." It is not in any way forbidden to be a representative of LGBTQ+ in Belarus, but the society is still learning to accept lesbian and trans-people. Here are the basics you necessitate to know, if you are LGBTQ + person coming to Minsk. Belarusians are pretty calm people. We rarely show our emotions too expressively. This affects how lovers respond in public places: kisses and hugs can be seen not that often. Heterosexual couples usually feel at ease. However, you can see girls kissing at modern parties and festivals. We carry out not recommend guys even holding hands in universal places. You can safely position on small pins with LGBTQ + symbols. Our society and police are not ready yet for some large-scale pieces enjoy flags. Guys, be careful with Tinder – fake dates are pretty common. Grindr and Hornet are the most popular dating apps for men. Before your call on, take advantage of the power of Facebook and find among friends of your friends a local "guide" into the society of the Minsk rainbow. Several initiatives make LGBTQ+ parties; the exact location is usually sent via Among the former Soviet states in Eastern Europe, Belarus is the most resistant to social change, restricting same-sex attracted life to intimate connections out of the public eye. Homosexual behavior was decriminalized in the early 1990s, but pervasive homophobia has largely squelched the gay rights movement. Neighbors of Belarus like Russia, Poland, and Lithuania love far more advanced, even if fledgling, gay life. Minsk, the capital of Belarus, provides a tenuous, semi-safe haven for gays through an underground network of private organizations and rotating gay nights at bars and clubs. There are determined seeds of gay life in Belarus, and this brief Minsk lgbtq+ guide reveals some of the basics. Gay tourists can enjoy the Minsk scene provided that they seek some inside information and remain cautious in a country with a spotty human rights record. Small groups have attempted to organize gay identity festival events in Minsk, but these are rarely successful, with gay attendees either outnumbered by droves of protesters or with the government denying permits in the first place. Gay organizations and gay publications battle to gain even I was born and raised in Gomel, Belarus and lived there all my life before disappearing for the Joined States in 2013. I first realized that I prefer boys when I was 6. For me, this revelation was the start of a very long internal strife. I tried to date girls, but without success. For a long period I didn't yearn to admit that I was queer . I came to terms with it only at 19, and before that I just told to myself "No, it's not about me," "No, it's not me," "No, I like girls." But it didn't work. When I finally realized I was gay, there was still an article in the Belarusian Criminal Code that criminalized homosexuality. There was no Internet then. I didn't know any same-sex attracted gays. I did not know where to go, where to meet people like me. But when I admitted to myself that I was male lover, I realized that I needed to accept it somehow. That first year, from 19 to 20, I spent searching for data and gay people. There was no Internet, but there was, for example, the newspaper "AIDS-Info.” Then the first Belarusian magazine on sexual matters "Meeting" began to publish. The first articles about gays appeared in there, and letters from homosexuals were Judging from the 2016 Baltic Pride parade in Vilnius, Lithuania has finally became a country where the LGBT* community no longer has to jump through legal hoops at the last minute when they want to throw a party. Unfortunately, neighbouring Belarus doesn’t have as much to celebrate – but this doesn’t mean that the country’s activists aren’t doing all they can for the community. Katsiaryna Borsuk, who works at the Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House and was a member of the now defunct nonprofit Gay Belarus, believes that although parades have been replaced by other strategies, Belarusian activists have made considerable progress. K. Borsuk, personal archive When visibility hurts The first LGBT* pride march in Belarus took place in 1999, and the last – in 2013 (though it hasn’t been a yearly occasion.) It was after the most recent event that it became clear that public demonstrations as a form of activism were hurting the community more than they helped. Since 2011, Gay Belarus had been the group putting on the pride. In recent years, even before pride, serious repression took hold – the police began raiding LGBT* parties, registering the persona
What prompted you to tell the story of a young same-sex attracted man living in Belarus?
Volha Malafeyechava: I'd been thinking about this for a long time. Friends and I had often debated whether homosexuality was a natural inclination or whether it required medical attention. I also wasn't sure how I would react if a friend told me he or she was gay. So while I was interested to learn more about homosexuals living here myself, I also wanted to exhibit others that lesbians and gays are a part of our society.
Was it
How To Be LGBT+ In Belarus?
General Environment
Expressions of affection
Symbols
Apps
Community
Parties
Commentary: Gay Life in Belarus–Belarusians Below the Radar
Viachaslau and Shawn
The Main Gay of Gomel
LGL