Flashback: The Return to Soviet Era Life for Russian Gays

Source: 76 Crimes

 During the recent Sochi 2014 Olympics, a lot of the focus was on the countries' anti-gay laws.
The Russian law outlaws pro-gay "propaganda" that could be accessible to minors. Critics say it is so restrictive and vague that it deters almost any public expression of support for gay rights.What was missing from the reports was the historical preceedence for this decision. The attitudes and legislation in Russia against Gay and Lesbians is unfortunately not new.

I found an article from the Calgary Herald dated June 1993, "Russia: Anti-gay law wiped from books". In 1993 Russian legislators had formally lifted the Soviet era law declaring male homosexuality a crime. The law, Article 121, was a holdover from the criminal code and made Russia one of the few countries in Europe that considered male homosexuality a crime punishable up to five years in prison. Ten men had been sentenced in 1992 for the crime, and 1989 some 500 men were sent to jail for being homosexual.

One of the fall-outs from criminalizing gay people is the increase in AIDS and lack of treatment in Russia. Many gay men "were very scared they would be thrown in jail if they went to the doctor for a STD", said Dima Lychev, eidotr of the gay newspaper One In Ten. Such restrictions had cast doubt on official stats on AIDS in Russia at the time, saying 650-700. Activists have said the actual number is at least 10 times higher.

Around 1.4 million people in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia were living with HIV at the end of 2011, representing an HIV prevalence of 1 percent. Around 140,000 became infected in 2011 and 92,000 died from AIDS related illnesses; there was a 21 percent increase in AIDS-related deaths between 2005 and 2011.

 

It is estimated that over two-thirds of the area’s infected people live in Russia, and combined with Ukraine, these two countries account for almost 90 percent of the region's newly reported HIV diagnoses. Both countries also have the highest number of people living with HIV relative to the general population; adult HIV prevalence is 0.8 percent in Ukraine and between 0.8 and 1.4 percent in Russia. (See avert's report) What will the stats look like after the new anti-gay laws wreak their havoc is not too hard to guess.

Around 1.4 million people in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia were living with HIV at the end of 2011, representing an HIV prevalence of 1 percent.1 Around 140,000 became infected in 2011 and 92,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses; there was a 21 percent increase in AIDS-related deaths between 2005 and 2011.2
- See more at: http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-russia-eastern-europe-central-asia.htm#sthash.2jxArsmV.dpuf

Around 1.4 million people in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia were living with HIV at the end of 2011, representing an HIV prevalence of 1 percent.1 Around 140,000 became infected in 2011 and 92,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses; there was a 21 percent increase in AIDS-related deaths between 2005 and 2011.2
- See more at: http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-russia-eastern-europe-central-asia.htm#sthash.2jxArsmV.dpuf

Around 1.4 million people in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia were living with HIV at the end of 2011, representing an HIV prevalence of 1 percent.1 Around 140,000 became infected in 2011 and 92,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses; there was a 21 percent increase in AIDS-related deaths between 2005 and 2011.2
- See more at: http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-russia-eastern-europe-central-asia.htm#sthash.2jxArsmV.dpuf

Wednesday's Strange History - Humanzee!

It's going to get weird, isn't it?

My question this week comes from Mark in Red Deer, Alberta. Mark asks about an experiment he heard about in his 20th Century Russian history class. "There was a project where a human was grafted onto a chimp, or bred with one or something like that. It was some crazed Russian experiment sometime in the early 1900s to make a super army of apes. Any non-google info on it?"

Heck yes, Mark. This weird Island of Dr Moreau tale is true, but not quite the way you recall.The primary researcher was Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov (1870-1932), a Soviet biologist who was a pioneer in artificial insemination for domestic animals. He set up the world's first centre for artificially knocking up horses in 1901. This guy is important because so many of our current livestock is created and eaten because of Ivanov's innovations.

If you want me to thank the guy for bypassing my sex life, forget it.

But things got mad scientist crazy after 1910. Ivanov was already thinking about the possibility of human and chimp hybrids as he knew they were genetically close to each other, thanks to German scientist Hans Friedenthal's work, and confirmed later on with DNA research. (Personally I though my family were related to gorillas). He took matters into his own...hands...and applied for research funding for the project. Because he was a respected scientist, and the USSR formed in 1922 was beginning a hyper-love phase of scientific enquiry, Ivanov received the money and use of Institut Pasteur’s facility in French Guinea in Western Africa. He began his artificial insemination experiments in March, 1926 with no results. Nothing he did worked, and reports filtered back to the homeland that he had tried to inseminate African women with the chimp sperm. Other reports state he did also try with Russian women, with no results.

Super racist and sexist colonialism, right little buddy?

 This report may have been true or fabricated, because Ivanov was now on the wrong side of the political-science battle. He and the other geneticists hoped that Ivanov’s research could lead to a better understanding of what qualities to choose for in the emerging ideal of eugenics. Stalin and his minion scientists rejected genetic research as bourgeois and pushed for the study of inheritance of acquired characteristics. Ivanov lost big time, he was shipped off to Kazakhstan where he died in 1932.

Contrary to some misguided reporting (looking at you, creationist), there is no evidence at all that Ivanov or Stalin ever tried to create ape-man super-warriors.This strange report came about when creationists tried to link communism with evolutionary theory, thereby disproving it in their minds.

For more reading on Soviet Science, may I recommend Stalin and the Soviet Science Wars by Ethan Pollock, this great article from Scientific America,

Hope that helps you sleep at nigh, Mark from Red Deer!