Red Closet: The Hidden History of Gay Oppression in the USSR - Hardcover

by Rustam Alexander (Author)

In 1934, Joseph Stalin enacted sodomy laws, unleashing a wave of brutal detentions of homosexual men in large Soviet cities. Rustam Alexander recounts the compelling stories of people whose lives were directly affected by those laws, including a naïve Scottish journalist based in Moscow 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 vignette 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.

Back Jacket

Based on unique and previously undiscovered sources, this is the first book to tell the story of the oppression of LGBTQ people in the USSR.

In 1934, Joseph Stalin enacted sodomy laws, unleashing a wave of brutal detentions of homosexual men in large Soviet cities. Rustam Alexander recounts the compelling stories of people whose lives were directly affected by those laws, including a naive Scottish journalist based in Moscow who dared to write to Stalin in an attempt to save his lover from prosecution, and a homosexual theatre student who pursued 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. Alexander also introduces a KGB officer who had sex with men, but was willing to betray them in order to resurrect his career, and a young Soviet diplomat with an unknown immune disease, and his journey to discover the truth.

These intimate true stories portray the lives of real people and provide a needed historical background to the oppression we see today under Vladimir Putin.

Author Biography

Rustam Alexander is a historian and independent scholar who obtained his PhD from University of Melbourne. He is the author of Regulating homosexuality in Soviet Russia: A different history, 1956-91.