Aww, a heartwarming story before the weekend (when I’m going to be neck-deep in grading.) A Russian, Erik Beda, fled his country for good reason.
Erik Beda’s mere existence is practically a death sentence in Russia. He’s transgender, which is illegal and considered an act of terror in the country.
“There is a sense of despair and catastrophe,” Erik Beda, 36, said in an interview with MPR News senior producer Aleesa Kuznetsov. The two spoke in Russian. Being LGBTQ+ has long been socially unacceptable in Russia, and eventually became illegal.
“Younger people say they want to end their life,” he said of the law. “Their families don’t care about them, and now the government has turned against them.”
Guess where he ended up, after a horrific struggle and journey?
After his release from ICE custody, Erik Beda said he took a bus to a place full of makeshift tents. A nonprofit gave him food, asked if he needed to call anyone and said they would buy him a one-way plane ticket. They asked Erik Beda where he wanted to go. He said he wanted to go to Minnesota.
“It’s an obvious fact that Minnesota is a refuge for trans people, so we had no doubts that we had to go,” Erik Beda said.
![](https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2024/04/erik-beda-500x334.jpg)
Russian refugee Erik Beda poses for a photo outside the Twin Cities Pride offices in Minneapolis, a transgender pride flag draped around his shoulders, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
As a cis man, it feels good to live in a place that at least tries to support the civil rights of all people. If you don’t live in such a place, I hope your state changes it’s laws and policies…and if they don’t, you’re welcome to move north.
Thank you for a rare good story among so many terrible ones these days.
Here in Canada, the outlook for LGBTQ+ people, while slightly better, has been marred by recent laws in a few regressive provinces. Happily, my own province of Nova Scotia is still something of a haven. While I didn’t vote for our Progressive Conservative (weird name, but it’s a thing here) government, they have been quite good on this issue.
Tankies: “Imperialist propaganda and culture war distraction! Putin’s is merely defending his people’s traditional way of life from the decadence of Western capitalist imperialism! Besides, so called “prejudice” is an myth created by the 1% to pit the working class against one another!”
“Class! It’s all about class and economics. The only way people are oppressed are by class and economics! THERE ARE NO OTHER FORMS OF OPPRESSION!!!”
I just saw this story elsewhere — like less than 10 min ago. I’m super glad for Beda, and I worry about him in Minnesota less than I would worry about someone coming from a warm clime. I’m sure he’ll adapt just fine.
Hope they have good language programs.
What really boggles me is the degree to which your average tankie is willing to defend straight-up plutocracy in Russia. The far-right has apparently had no difficulty in dropping the negative association of Russia with Communism; it is curious that substantial portions of the far-left seems unable to shake the positive association.
He’s transgender, which is illegal and considered an act of terror in [Russia].
“Terror?!” Are Russians really “terrorized” by trans people just existing? Damn, talk about a country full of snowflakes…
@Raging Bee
It’s the implications about being a threat by existing. Like the children become gay and trans because there are gay and trans people. Other convenient things too.
Basically everything the government doesn’t like is terrorism in Russia.
But certainly, the patriarchy is quite officially enforced there. They’ve got a good KGB agent, Patriarch Kirill, to lay down the rules while another, Vladimir Putin, creates the laws and directs the enforcement. Gotta keep everyone focused on who to hate, lest they start thinking about why their government sucks.
Small rays of hope in the gloaming. Best of luck to Erik and Ivan.
The difficulty in getting from Mexico to USA to get asylum is deliberate.
Biden inherited the situation from # 45 and old # 46 is not planning to make it any easier.
Burying the lede a bit: Erik got through, but his husband is stuck behind, because Russian authorities forced them to divorce and the US is going along with that divorce filing.
It doesn’t make sense to me why LGBTQ+ are such a threat. Like, how does this affect them? It is such an illogical position.
I just can’t wrap my head around it.
@angoratrilobite
In part denial about human nature at a group level and a need to ACTIVELY portray anything but a binary as some form of manipulation instead of kids discovering their personalities.
Also using that binary to reinforce their own ideas about what behaviors go with what anatomy.
Kevin Sorbo is a good example. An anatomy behavior bait and switch maybe?
https://bravebooks.us/products/the-test-of-lionhood
https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/let-boys-be-boys-let-girls-be-girls-lets-stop-chopping-down-men-kevin-sorbo-actor-writer
“I’m just hoping that people wake up a little bit and realize, Let’s let boys be boys and let girls be girls. And let’s stop this whole thing about chopping down the men in the world.”
“Let kids be kids,” he said. “Let them get older and decide for themselves,”
“But to sit there and tell this to 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds [in America] — and to confuse them even more when they’re kids, that is crazy to me.”
A bunch of people have lots of cooties about their power structure.
He’s transgender, which is illegal and considered an act of terror in the country.
Being transgendered is not illegal. Transgender surgery is illegal. If he is “grandfathered”, so to speak, he should be fine. The “act of terror” is crap.
OTOH, any transgendered person is going to be a lot better off in a lot of other countries. Just don’t go to Uganda.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/15/russia-trans-health-care-families-bill-violates-rights
jrkrideau @14: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-adds-lgbt-movement-list-extremist-terrorist-organisations-2024-03-22/
So its ok to be transgender as long as you’re not an ‘activist’, however they define that term. Do you trust Putin’s definition of ‘activist’? It seems to include anyone who opposes him.
@ jrkrideau : “OTOH, any transgendered person is going to be a lot better off in a lot of other countries. Just don’t go to Uganda.”
Or Russia. Where trans people ar emuch worse off than they are in most other countries.
Note :
Source : https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-putin-trans-gender-affirming-surgery-ban-transphobia/
Plus :
Source : https://theconversation.com/putins-russia-first-arrests-under-new-anti-lgbt-laws-mark-new-era-of-repression-226864
In addition to :
Source : https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/12/12/no-support/russias-gay-propaganda-law-imperils-lgbt-youth
Russia is getting scary.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/4/19/2234905/-The-Machine-Putin-Is-Building-Which-The-World-isn-t-Seeing-Yet-Disturbing-Scenes-Inside-Russia