RFQ #002: A Rainbow Railroad (Kimahli Powell)

This week, we’re tackling 2017’s biggest story in queer human rights: the crisis in Chechnya. My guest is Kimahli Powell, the Executive Director of Rainbow Railroad. Based in Toronto, Rainbow Railroad has been working very closely with Russian activists to get gay Chechens to safety. We’ll be discussing this urgent work and the organization’s other work to offer a “rainbow railroad” to LGBTI people all over the world at immediate risk of danger.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Rainbow Railroad

• Russian LGBT Network: English | Русский

• Human Rights Watch, "They Have Long Arms and They Can Find Me": Anti-Gay Purge by Local Authorities in Russia's Chechen Republic (May 26, 2017)

 

2019 update from Human Rights Watch: “Russia: New Wave of Anti-LGBT Persecution” in Chechnya (Feb. 15, 2019)