It's Pride month and, across the world, LGBTIQ rights movements have organised numerous public events to loudly and clearly demand equality and celebrate diversity. As a lesbian woman from Russia, this month is also, inevitably, a period of personal reflection – about my identity, my activism and my pride.
Russia has gained worldwide notoriety for its staunch protection of so-called 'traditional values,' and its corresponding demonisation of LGBTIQ people – not only for living outside of these values, but for supposedly threatening society at large. In Russia today, pride for LGBTIQ people is a challenging concept, to say the least.
It’s no wonder, then, that I spent most of my adult life a closeted lesbian in Russia. I simply lived my life; while my closest friends knew about my sexuality, no one else needed to. I had a partner of many years: at work, we said that we were cousins.
