Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Masha Gessen

Quote by Masha Gessen

“Russian law on banning nontraditional relationships basically says you cannot have any portrayal, neutral or positive, of homosexual relationships or nontraditional families, period. And you also cannot have negative portrayals of heterosexual relationships. So along the way, the law completely quashes any kind of public discussion on domestic violence. No discussion of relationships at all, unless you want to showcase a heterosexual love story, that preferably involves reproduction.”

Quote by Masha Gessen

Create image

Author

Masha Gessen
Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen is a Russian-American journalist known for her in-depth reporting on Russian political and social issues. Born on January 13, 1967, she has been living in the United States since the early 1990s. more

You May Also Like

“LGBT people are really convenient: we're sort of the ultimate foreign agent in Russia. There's no doubt in anyone's mind that the values that affirm nontraditional relationships, that affirm feminism, come from abroad. If you've established - and this isn't up for discussion - that foreign agents are bad, and foreign influence is bad, and the West is our enemy, then there's no better expression of the West's influence than gays and lesbians.”

PeopleMindValuesEnemyDoubtFeminismInfluenceGayUltimateDiscussionLgbt
Author:Masha Gessen
Create image

“Conceit of the anti-gay law in Russia is to protect children, then the people who have the most to fear are LGBT parents. And sure enough, in conjunction with the homosexual propaganda law, they instituted a ban on adoptions by same-sex couples, or single people from countries where same-sex marriage is legal. That has very scary potential for any LGBT person with adopted kids, because Russian courts practice this particular legal concept called "annulment of adoption." So an adopted child is never exactly the same as a biological child, even if he or she was adopted ten years ago.”

PeopleChildrenCountryEnoughKidsParentCoupleProtectScaryPropagandaLgbtAdoptionHomosexualAdoptedSingle People
Author:Masha Gessen
Create image

“There's another piece of legislation in Russia that would make "allowing for nontraditional sexual relations" a cause for removing parental rights, and remove children from same-sex families altogether. It was withdrawn, most likely temporarily, under international pressure. What "allowing for nontraditional sexual relations" means, nobody knows. And this is part of the point of all of these laws. They have to be vague to not just enable but require selective enforcement.”

MeanChildrenRelationNobody KnowsParental
Author:Masha Gessen
Create image

“In 1997, when I started as a professional athlete, my sport was not like it is now. I needed to develop myself to beat the next generation, but things also changed in the sport. Bikes have changed, the sport has gotten faster, and it's becoming more professional. But my goal always was to try to be one step in front of all the others. That was my motivation. That helped me to work every day during the year, and very hard. And it never stopped.”

TryingMotivationSportsGoalChangedAthleteNext GenerationProfessional Athlete
Author:Sven Nys
Create image

“I was the strongest during my career, and that helped me a lot, definitely in the beginning, when I needed to race against riders who were much older than me and had the power and the experience. I could beat them with my technique. At a certain moment I not only had the technique but then the power came and the experience, and then you are on the best level that you ever can reach. But then the explosivity starts to go down, you're more afraid, and the technique goes down a bit. But it's OK, because it never goes completely down.”

Moments
Author:Sven Nys
Create image