East Bloc Love

The “Slavic Pride” parade held in Minsk back in 2011 lasted all of ten minutes before the police ended the demonstration. The event nevertheless proved to be of great importance: In the words of the organisers, “the first step is to show people that we exist, that we have faces and names and also have the right to live in this society”. LGBT activists from Belarus, Poland, Romania, Russia, Latvia and Lithuania speak of daily struggle, Christian-fundamentalist backlash and the game of hide-and-seek homosexuals are obliged to play in eastern Europe.