(Strong language in paragraph 27 may be offensive to some readers)
By Umberto Bacchi and Lin Taylor
LONDON, Nov 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Bullied and beaten, analysed and abused, Justin Romanov finally accepted his life in Russia was over. Being gay was a dance with death.
“I felt like I had two options: I’m going to live as I am, or I’m going to die. Nothing else is possible … I cannot hide it. I cannot pretend to be straight,” he said.
Aged 18, he escaped to Canada, where he joined a crack team helping lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people flee from countries where homosexuality is banned or violently repressed.
Earlier this year he was involved in the Toronto-based group’s successful effort to bring to safety more than 30 Chechens, amid reports of mass arrests and torture of LGBT people in the deeply conservative Russian region.
As a volunteer for the group, Romanov helped them adapt to their new reality, assisting with accommodation, paperwork and bank accounts, as many did not speak English.
“I want to do as much as I can in my power to help other people, particularly from Russia,” Romanov, now 22, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview.
Advocacy group Rainbow Railroad covertly brought the Chechens, most aged between 19 and 25, out of Russia through a network of safehouses after news of mass detention of LGBT people first emerged in April.
Most had to leave in haste, bringing with them nothing more than a backpack or what they were wearing, said Rainbow Railroad’s executive director, Kimahli Powell.
“Some people…had never left their home and all of a sudden were leaving for good, so they were pretty traumatised,” he said.
