A poignant and deeply researched history of gay oppression in the USSR.
In 1934, Joseph Stalin enacted sodomy laws, unleashing a wave of brutal detentions of homosexual men in large Soviet cities.
Red closet recounts the compelling stories of people whose lives were affected by those laws, including a naïve Scottish journalist who dared to write to Stalin in an attempt to save his lover from prosecution and a homosexual theatre student who came to Moscow in pursuit of a career amid Stalin’s harsh repressions and mass arrests. We also meet a fearless doctor in Siberia who provided medical treatment for gay men at his own peril and a much-loved Soviet singer who hid his homosexuality from the secret police.
Each story helps paint the hitherto unknown picture of how Soviet oppression of gay people originated and was perpetuated from Stalin’s rule until the demise of the USSR. This book comes at a time when homophobia is again rearing its ugly head under Putin’s rule. -- .
Part I: Under Stalin
1 Stalin decides to make male homosexuality a crime
2 A Scottish man stands up for the rights of Soviet homosexuals
3 A young man from Siberia comes to Moscow in pursuit of his dreams
4 A Soviet celebrity leads a double life and lives in quiet suffering
5 A visit to a bathhouse ends in a nightmare
6 Soviet homosexuals travel to Siberia for "medical" treatment
Part II: Under Khrushchev
7 Stalin’s heirs deal with homosexuality in the GULAG
8 In which a murder occurs
9 Soviet jurists push for the decriminalization of sodomy
10 Soviet psychiatrists try to cure lesbianism
11 A KGB lieutenant goes rogue
12 Soviet doctors invent a new medical science and try to cure male homosexuality
Part III: Under Brezhnev
13 Soviet jurists try to decriminalize consensual homosexuality
14 A married couple try to save their marriage
15 Yan Goland tries to cure a youth of his homosexuality
16 A jurist proposes to criminalize lesbianism
17 A former soldier is crippled with internalized homophobia
18 In which we learn about emerging gay activism in the USSR
Part IV: Under Gorbachev
19 A strange patient from Africa baffles Soviet doctors
20 Soviet officials try to protect the USSR from AIDS
21 The Soviet KGB becomes inspired by the American gay press
22 Soviet doctors find Soviet "Patient Zero"
23 Soviet homophobia hits its peak
24 Soviet homosexuals finally speak about themselves in public
Epilogue: In which Boris Yeltsin decriminalizes consensual homosexuality – but homophobia remains
Index -- .
Height:216
Width:138
Spine:19
Weight:499.00