Russian Lawyer Comes Out as Trans, Bi To Protest Law

English: Rainbow flag flapping in the wind with blue skies and the sun. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John M. Becker | Bilerico | September 16, 2013

A top Russian lawyer has come out as transgender and bisexual to protest that country’s barbaric crackdown on LGBT rights, the Moscow Times reports.

Masha Bast, who formerly went by the name Yevgeny Arkhipov, is the chairwoman of the Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights; she has worked on many controversial and high-profile cases in that capacity.

Bast announced her transition earlier this month in a press release prepared by her spouse. On Facebook, she invited people to follow her through the transition process and indicated an openness to answering questions that others might have about things like hormones and surgery.

She sat down for an interview with the Moscow Times in which she spoke positively about being a member of the LGBT community, thereby breaking Russia’s ban on so-called “gay propaganda.” She told the paper that she came out in order to be true to herself, but also because she couldn’t bear to remain silent in the face of the massive injustices being perpetrated on LGBT people in Russia today. “I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing,” Bast said.

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Russian Mayoral Candidate Proposes Gay Blood Donation Ban, Conversion Therapy

Sergio N. Candido | South Florida Gay News | August 29, 2013

Despite an international outcry over its “homosexual propaganda” law, things for the LGBT community in […]

Despite an international outcry over its “homosexual propaganda” law, things for the LGBT community in Russia aren’t getting any better, in fact, they might get worse.

According to The Moscow Times, one of the city’s candidate for mayor, State Duma deputy Mikhail Degtyarev is proposing as part of his platform a national ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men.

“We will suggest amendments to the law on donors that reintroduce homosexuality to the list of contraindications for blood donations in Health Ministry instructions,” Degtyarev told RT, adding that 65 percent of HIV-positive individuals were men (he did not provide a source for this statistic).

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Russia: Five gay rights protesters detained following Red Square demonstration

Joseph Patrick McCormick | PinkNews.co.uk | July 15, 2013

Police in Moscow detained five gay rights activists on Sunday for holding a demonstration against Russia’s recently introduced anti-gay legislation.

The Moscow Times reports that five activists were held by police after staging a demonstration at Russia’s Red Square, due to the fact that the activists did not have a permit for the rally.

The demonstrators lit flares and held up rainbow-coloured posters which read “Homophobia is riffraffs’ religion.”

The upper house of the Russian Parliament voted last month to approve both a bill banning adoption of Russian children by foreign same-sex couples and the nationwide anti-”propaganda” bill banning the promotion of “non-traditional” relationships to minors.

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