Putin’s Fight For “Traditional Values”
Leading up to and throughout the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, we will be exploring through poetry, fiction, and nonfiction the implications of growing restrictions on freedom of expression in… More
Open Season on Russian Gays and Lesbians
These are just a few examples, but they illustrate the point: the purpose of this law isn’t just to shove LGBT people back in the closet, it’s also meant… More
Gay Propaganda: Olga & Irina
What country are we living in and in what year, when priests bless half- drunk nationalists that pelt people with rocks while the police look on and then load… More
Gay Propaganda: Sergei
There wasn’t a single gay man among them. There were grown men next to me, who’d come down with delirium tremens, schizophrenia. That’s when I learned that madness is… More
PEN Urges Obama to Press Russia on Expression; Russian Writers Speak Out
New laws in Russia barring religious offense and 'homosexual propaganda' are troubling signs of an increasingly restrictive environment for freedom of expression. More