EUROPE: Couple of Men reporter Sarah could talk to transman Soldado who was born in Siberia, Russia, and had to face discrimination and violence for being LGBT in his home country.
The two men Pavel Stotcko and Evgenii Voitsekhovskii met via the Russian online network VKontakte and fell in love. Pavel’s family knew that the two men lived together, but homosexuality was kept from their fathers. Pavel’s mother, in turn, knew but preferred the word friendship when she spoke of the two.
RUSSIA: A kiss and a murder. This is how recent events in Russia can be summarized in the LGBTQ+ community. Renowned LGBTQ+ activist Yelena Grigoriyeva was found dead in St. Petersburg in mid-July, with several stab wounds in the chest and signs of strangulation.