The Birth of a Transgender Movement in Russia
By Andy Thayer | Jun 3, 2011
http://www.feastoffun.com/topics/people/2011/06/03/the-birth-of-a-transgender-movement-in-russia/On May 28 a sprinkling of international activists and I joined with members of GayRussia to participate in the Moscow Pride demonstration which had been banned by the government. The demonstrators were physically attacked by neofascist thugs and police, and arrested (see
and
for example).
At least two of those arrested are members of Russia's Transgender community. The day after we were released from jail, I sat down with one of them, Anna Komarova, to discuss the issues facing Russia's budding Transgender community. Anna's presentation at a press conference two days previously is believed to be the first-ever pro-Transgender public presentation the country has ever seen. A video of Anna should be ready to appear in this space tomorrow night — until then, below is the print interview.
