Evgeny Shtorn and Alexander Kondakov were living together in St. Petersburg when Vladimir Putin began his crackdown on the L.G.B.T.Q. movement in Russia, passing laws that prevented gay “propaganda.” Kondakov is a scholar of the movement, and Shtorn has studied the sociology of hate crimes against gay men. The couple also worked for an N.G.O. that received foreign funding, which made them appear particularly suspicious to Russian authorities. After Shtorn’s citizenship was rescinded, he became vulnerable to pressure from the F.S.B., the Russian security agency, which tried to make him an informant. Finally Shtorn decided to flee, seeking refuge as a stateless person in Ireland, where Masha Gessen spoke with him. Gessen says that Putin’s recent targeting of L.G.B.T. people is perfectly in line with his methods. “[We] make the perfect scapegoat, because we stand in for everything,” she says. “We stand in for the West. We stand in all the things that have changed in the last quarter century that make you uncomfortable. And, of course, no Russian thinks they’ve ever met a gay person in person—so that makes it really easy to create that image of ‘the villainous queer people.’ ”
This segment originally aired June 10, 2019. Since that time, Shtorn received refugee status, and was reunited with Kondakov in Ireland. They married in 2023.
Maya Hawke on the Fear of “Missing Out,” and Jen Silverman on “There’s Going to Be Trouble”
How a Republican and a Democrat Carved out Exemptions to Texas’s Abortion Ban
The Film Critic Justin Chang on What to See in 2024
The Attack on Black History, with Nikole Hannah-Jones and Jelani Cobb
Rhiannon Giddens, Americana’s Queen, on Cultivating the Black Roots of Country Music
Alicia Keys Returns to Her Roots with Her New Musical, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Percival Everett and the Reinvention of Mark Twain’s Jim
Trump’s Authoritarian Pronouncements Recall a Dark History
March Madness 2024: College Basketball at a Crossroads
Judith Butler Can’t “Take Credit or Blame” for Gender Furor
In “Great Expectations,” Vinson Cunningham Watches Barack Obama’s Rise Up Close
Bradley Cooper Contends for Best Actor in “Maestro”
What Biden Is Thinking About the 2024 Election
Kara Swisher on Tech Billionaires: “I Don’t Think They Like People”
Lily Gladstone on Holding the Door Open for More Native Actors in Hollywood. Plus, the Brody Awards
Ty Cobb on Trump, Putin, and the Death of Alexey Navalny
For Brontez Purnell, “Memoir Is Fiction—I Don’t Care What Anyone Says”
“Pod Save America” ’s Jon Lovett on Trump: “The Threat of Jail Time Sharpens the Mind”
Jacqueline Novak Is Giving Audiences “Everything She’s Got”
Can Memes Swing the 2024 Election? Plus, Michelle Zauner on “Crying in H Mart”
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Daily
Should This Exist?
Without Fail
Hannibal Buress
Longform