The Russians are Coming, The Gay Russians are Here

                                                                             

 Gay Russians Protesting in Moscow

There has been no outcry about Russians invading New York from the usual anti immigration voices. You can find them in the welfare office, the emergency room, carrying an iPad while traveling to NYU or going about to work. There is no outcry like we had when other minorities came in seeking asylum because they are not wanted in their country. Just last week the State Department announced that they were listing gay Ugandans’ applying to be here as people in need of repatriation. The thing is the Ugandan problem of beating and killing gays has been going on for years now.  There are other countries that jail and execute gays like Egypt, Iran, Iraq, as a matter of fact all Arab countries except may be Morocco and Turkey which outlaws gays but they don’t actively go after them. In North Africa you take your pick.

When they apply to Immigration they all have a hell of a time in proof of their situation which would be they are gay and they are in danger of death in their respective countries when somehow some manage to get here. 

However we are glad that gay Russians are making it here too. Gays are welcoming them and marrying them like they would any other American. 

The usual outcry from mainly people identified as Republicans and a few Democrats that believe America is for americans, what ever the hell that means they are quiet about the Russians, may be they think Russia still communist and they don’t know that Putin converted it into a Fascist country. We are grateful for all little miracles.

The figures coming from Immigration are secret and what they are putting out is as of 2012 so is not recent. So when I say where the Russians are being seen is more personal that statistical but true because NY seems to be home base and live in NY.  Also Immigration puts the percentage of applications from Russian as very high compare from 2012 from previous years. So 2013 and 2014 has to be at least 100% from 2011. 

Below is a story I picked up from AP about the economical hardships of a particular Russian with his partner who immigrated to NYC. He was an activist in Russia but now he and his partner will be here to fulfill the american dream. 

I am very happy for this couple, but I can’t help but wonder if the Russian activists with the resources to leave and come here, what would happen to the average non resources abled Russian at home?

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Had he stayed in Russia, Andrew Mironov would be settling in to a stable job with an oil company, likely with a newly awarded doctoral degree in electrical engineering.

Instead, he faces an uncertain future in New York City as one of scores of Russian gays seeking asylum in the United States because of hostility and harassment in their homeland.

"In Russia, I would have gotten my Ph.D. this fall, had a job and health insurance," said Mironov, 25. "Now, here, I'm nobody."

Yet the sacrifices have been worth it, Mironov said, given the fears that lingered after he was beaten by assailants in the lobby of a gay bar in his home city of Samara.

"Which is more important, happiness or success?" he asked over coffee in midtown Manhattan. "I would say happiness. I feel no fear here."

There are no firm statistics on the number of gay Russian asylum seekers. U.S. government agencies that handle applications do not report such details. However, the Department of Homeland Security's latest figures show that overall applications for asylum by Russians totaled 969 in the 2014 fiscal year, up 34 percent from 2012.

The increase is due in part to the worsening anti-gay climate in Russia, according to Immigration Equality, a New York-based organization which provides legal services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender immigrants.

The organization says the number of inquiries it received from gay Russians seeking U.S. asylum has risen from 68 in 2012 to 127 in 2013 and 161 through Oct. 30 of this year. During that period, gay-rights gatherings in Russia were frequently targeted by assailants, and the parliament passed a law targeting "gay propaganda" that was widely viewed as a means of deterring gay activism.

Said Mironov of that law, "It helped homophobic people feel the government is on their side."

Soon to join the queue of applicants are Andrew Nasonov and Igor Bazilevsky, longtime partners from the Russian city of Voronezh who wearied of threats, harassment and beatings and came to the United States in July. 

Nasonov, 25, was a journalist and human rights activist in Russia; Bazilevsky, 32, was a graphic designer. They hope to pursue those careers in the U.S. if their asylum applications are approved.

“Of course we are worried, but we hope for the best," Nasonov said.

By David Crary
The Associated Press