The Gay Russia Dilemma

in Activism / general — by — September 5, 2013

This morning I received a Facebook chat message from Michael Lucas. He wanted to know why I was still friending a Russian gay activist, Nikolay Alexeyev:

Sorry to bother, but how can you still be friends with Nikolay Alexeyev after his Jew hating remarks on FB?  http://americablog.com/2013/09/russian-gay-activist-alexeyev-huge-new-anti-semitic-meltdown-facebook-twitter.html

I friended Alexeyev after the news about Russia’s Gay Propaganda law started to dominate LGBT news. While some were calling for the IOC to pull the Winter Olympics out of Sochi to protect our athletes, some athletes, like Johnny Weir were speaking out against a boycott, claiming that the Russian LGBT community wanted us to be there, and citing Alexeyev to support their point.  Alexeyev is no stranger to controversy, and while many feel he has tirelessly worked for progress, others fault him.

While I adamantly disagree with Weir about the value of Out gay athletes going to Sochi, I agree in general, that the global community must care about and listen to what the Russian LGBT community feels will be helpful to them. I just wasn’t convinced that this one controversial person was truly the voice of the Russian LGBT community.

Then things got weird, and it wasn’t clear if Alexeyev’s postings to Facebook were his own or not. AmericaBlog has covered this pretty well, and Aravosis has come to the conclusion that Alexeyev is totally discredited for a few reasons but his recent anti-semitic rants are a perfect illustration.

Lucas is a pretty colorful character too, with a long career in the porn industry, a Russian law degree, and more recent adventures into activism.  I began following Lucas as a way to try and find other Russian voices on this issue. But it is pretty clear that a confrontational interaction may be blooming when an exchange begins, “Sorry to bother, but how can you still be friends with…”

I have a few theories as to what is going on with Alexeyev. Either he has totally lost it. He is just a raging drunk. Or some one else is controlling his account.

Lucas suggested complaining to Facebook about his recent anti-semitic rants, which makes sense,  but it was clear there was a bigger agenda here. Lucas was doing his best to silence Alexeyev. I asked:

Can you tell me what you think is a better strategy? Do you advocate everyone unfriending him? What are your thoughts about how that will help the LGBT people of Russia? I don’t ask those Q’s to be critical. I think there is a real dilemma about what to do about him.
To which Lucas replied that there was no dilemma. He wrote:
“hi is not supported by russian or western gay community any longer, but just do a research…”
I actually have been doing my research since this controversy began, I had found no Russian LGBT person to speak out against Alexeyev. Sure, out is easy to find US queers discrediting him. But I was back to where I started with Weir’s rationalization. How is it for US Gay Inc to either back or discredit this one Russian gay person?
And immediately Lucas unfriended or blocked me. “Sorry to bother,…” Really?
This refusal by some to actually discuss, in the face of harder questions is a flaw with a number of activists, or activist wannabes like Lucas. We see this with some Get Equal types too. They are so sure that they have the only right ideas, and you aren’t worth their time if you don’t immediately agree. This failure to dialogue is a hindrance to the LGBT movement and harms our ability to react as we need to, but that may be better left to another post.
So, here is the US LGBTQ community’s dilemma. How is it that we engage with the struggle of the Russian LGBTQ community and what do we do with a person who has been the most vocal and out there Russian activist- who seems to have gone off the deep end? Does Lucas become a spokesperson for the Russian LGBT community even though he left there about 15 years ago?
I don’t always agree with John Arovosis at AmericaBlog (heck I never agree with anyone all of the time) but I do think he has done some amazing work on this topic, and lays out thoughtful ideas. I have never been sure that Alexeyev should be the voice heard from Russia’s LGBTQ community, and John has it right.
But it remains, who, if anyone, does speak  for Russia’s LGBT community, and how does the global community know what those on the inside think or want, and how can they best be supported? The situation in Russia is dire, in my opinion, and it is no wonder that it is also highly emotional. We need activists, like Lucas to be engaged, but they are fairly useless if their emotions and their self-righteousness shadow everything else.

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