Interview with Labrys in Kyrgyzstan

An interview by Non-Breaking Space with Syinat Sultanalieva of Labrys, Kyrgyzstan’s leading LGBT organisation. http://jeromealexandre.com/files/2012-09-03-Labrys.mp3

Gay Bashings and Corruption: Prison Life in Turkmenistan

A miraculous thing happened last summer at MR-K/16 prison in Turkmenistan. On July 25, Stanislav Romaschenko, a Russian citizen convicted of unarmed robbery, was pardoned and released by the Turkmen authorities. He had served 11 years of his 19-year sentence. Romaschenko, who was 21 at the time of the 2003 robbery, admits his part in…

Leaving Kazakhstan for a “Normal Life” in NYC

Alexander Lipovtsev, originally from Astana, describes his journey from Kazakhstan to the largest city in the United States. Watch the video below (RU audio, ENG subtitles), and check out the original article in Esquire Kazakhstan (RU).

A Lack of Legal Recognition Hinders Gay Life in Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, there aren’t no unequivocal statistics on the number of people with different sexual orientations. According to a study conducted by the Public Foundation “Adali” in 2005, there were 112 thousand gay men in the country. However, in a 2010 address to President Nursultan Nazarbayev to legalize same-sex marriage, “LGBT Kazakhstan” said that the…

VIDEO: Kyrgyz Broadcaster says LGBT Voices Must Not be Censored

Via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

VIDEO: The Birth of LGBT Activism in Kyrgyzstan

Via Morley College

LGBT+ Violence in Tajikistan – A School Yard Confession

Translated from Russian “Why did I hit him? The mood is awful. I feel like shit. We have a classmate, a good guy, from a good family. Even last year, some guys said that he was gay because behaves strangely. He spoke like a girl, and too soft. For this, all the teachers love him….

Freedom in the World Survey: No Former Soviet States ‘Free’

The 2016 Freedom in the World survey has ranked each of the former Soviet states as either ‘Partly’ free or ‘Not’ free. The annual report, conducted by the US-based Freedom House, gives a score between 1 (free) and 7 (not free) for political rights and civil liberties in each nation and disputed territory. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine…

An Activist Speaks Out on Gender Violence in Kyrgyzstan

“One lesbian described how, when she was 15, her girlfriend’s brothers raped her brutally, saying: “This is your punishment for being this way and hanging around our sister.” Another woman told Human Rights Watch that an acquaintance locked her in a room and allowed several men to rape her, to “cure” her of being a…

Wikileaks: Almaty a “Sexual-Minority Haven”

KAZAKHSTAN: OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE RELATIVELY OPTIMISTIC, SEEKS TO DEFINE ITS ROLE Date: 2009 April 13, 09:47 (Monday) Canonical ID: 09ASTANA625_a MOST VULNERABLE GROUPS: TERMINALLY ILL AND SEXUAL MINORITIES 5. (SBU) Alexandrova said she personally would like to focus OSI’s attention on the “most vulnerable groups.” She cited two as of greatest concern — terminally ill…

Wikileaks Reveals the US Embassy’s Summary of Gay Life in Turkmenistan

TURKMENISTAN’S GAY UNDERGROUND: HIDDEN, GROWING AND AT RISK Date: 2008 August 21, 04:08 (Thursday) Canonical ID: 08ASHGABAT1095_a Original Classification: UNCLASSIFIED,FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 2. (SBU) SUMMARY. Officially nonexistent and a taboo topic, Turkmenistan’s gay population is finding partners with greater frequency. Men will first meet in public places and then secretly continue seeing each other,…