Devastating. She is a hero. It takes immense personal resolve and courage to speak out on issues that can possibly yield you harm, even death, and she did so knowingly. Her conviction is...
Devastating. She is a hero. It takes immense personal resolve and courage to speak out on issues that can possibly yield you harm, even death, and she did so knowingly. Her conviction is admirable. What an incredible spirit.
If anyone wants an inside look into Russia and its treatment of LGBT individuals, I recommend the documentary Hunted: The War Against Gays in Russia(trailer). I have to give the obligatory warning that it's genuinely hard to watch and has many deeply disturbing scenes, though this is certainly a fault of Russian society and not the documentary.
In its most difficult to watch scene, a group of gay bashers catfishes a gay man into a date, only to beat, harass, and humiliate him upon arrival. I remember one of the group members asking the leader if they were going to pour urine on him, with the implication that's a common part of this process for them. The group leader says no, likely on account of the documentary filmmakers being present (to their credit, the filmmakers tried to intervene as much as they could). The fact that the group took these actions knowing they were being filmed by an "outside eye" says something about their brazenness and a society that tacitly supports what they're doing, and it's likely that the presence of the filmmakers inhibited the severity of their actions. The group also forces a confession from their victim that they videotape and then post on social media in order to out him, knowing the social consequences he will face (likely loss of job, friends, family; further harassment, etc.).
Devastating. She is a hero. It takes immense personal resolve and courage to speak out on issues that can possibly yield you harm, even death, and she did so knowingly. Her conviction is admirable. What an incredible spirit.
If anyone wants an inside look into Russia and its treatment of LGBT individuals, I recommend the documentary Hunted: The War Against Gays in Russia (trailer). I have to give the obligatory warning that it's genuinely hard to watch and has many deeply disturbing scenes, though this is certainly a fault of Russian society and not the documentary.
In its most difficult to watch scene, a group of gay bashers catfishes a gay man into a date, only to beat, harass, and humiliate him upon arrival. I remember one of the group members asking the leader if they were going to pour urine on him, with the implication that's a common part of this process for them. The group leader says no, likely on account of the documentary filmmakers being present (to their credit, the filmmakers tried to intervene as much as they could). The fact that the group took these actions knowing they were being filmed by an "outside eye" says something about their brazenness and a society that tacitly supports what they're doing, and it's likely that the presence of the filmmakers inhibited the severity of their actions. The group also forces a confession from their victim that they videotape and then post on social media in order to out him, knowing the social consequences he will face (likely loss of job, friends, family; further harassment, etc.).