A rising variety of LGBTQ+ Russians search refuge from struggle, discrimination in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Anastasia Domini and spouse Anna Domini walked hand in hand on a latest sunny day in Argentina’s capital whereas their 4 stressed kids performed close by.

It is a widespread sight in a rustic the place same-sex marriage has been authorized for greater than a decade. However the couple, who obtained married shortly after arriving in Buenos Aires early final yr, nonetheless keep in mind the concern they felt after they first determined to carry arms in public after leaving Russia, which explicitly outlawed same-sex marriages in 2020.

“It was actually scary,” Anastasia Domini mentioned, however “we have been trying round and actually, actually no person was trying.”

For the Dominis, who modified their final names so they might extra convincingly faux to be sisters in Russia, the stroll exemplified how a lot their lives had modified since they moved, becoming a member of an rising variety of LGBTQ+ Russians who determined to depart their homeland and settle in Argentina to flee discrimination and the struggle with Ukraine.

Over the previous decade, dwelling brazenly as a member of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood in Russia has grown more and more tough.

In December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a regulation that considerably expanded restrictions on actions seen as selling LGBTQ+ rights within the nation, constructing on a regulation that had been in place since 2013 and that impartial researchers say led to a surge in violence in opposition to sexual minorities.

Extra not too long ago, the Kremlin has even framed the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine partly as a strategy to defend conservative values in opposition to Western promotion of homosexual and transgender rights.

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The Argentine LGBT Federation has obtained about 130 inquiries up to now yr and a half from Russians curious about looking for refuge in Argentina, greater than some other nationality.

“The battle between Russia and Ukraine has accelerated the choice of many individuals who have been already in a weak state of affairs,” mentioned Maribe Sgariglia, who heads the group’s worldwide relations division.

Members of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood aren’t the one Russians coming to Argentina. In January, 4,523 Russians entered Argentina, greater than 4 instances the 1,037 that arrived in the identical month final yr, in response to authorities figures. In 2022, some 22,200 Russians entered Argentina, together with numerous pregnant ladies who’ve flown into the nation to provide start, partly in a bid to acquire a passport that opens extra doorways.

For no less than a number of the Russians arriving in Argentina, the nation wasn’t their first selection.

Mark Boyarsky, a 38-year-old trans man who left Moscow along with his spouse and two kids, aged 5 and eight, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine final yr, first moved to Nepal in a bid to get a British visa. After a number of fruitless months, they determined to maneuver to Argentina in September.

It “feels so protected for me right here,” Boyarsky mentioned, noting that he has but to inform his kids that he’s trans as a result of “it felt too harmful for them” to know that again house contemplating there’s a normal perception that “there are not any gays in Russia.”

Two years after marriage equality turned regulation in Argentina in 2010, Congress permitted a pioneering Gender Id Legislation that codified rights for transgender people, together with the flexibility to alter names with out the necessity for medical evaluations.

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Boyarsky works as an impartial photographer and sometimes snaps photographs at same-sex weddings involving Russian immigrants. Not less than 34 Russian same-sex {couples} obtained married in Argentina in 2022, and 31 to date this yr, in response to the Argentine LGBT Federation.

Lately, Boyarsky photographed the marriage of Nadezhda Skvortosova, 22, and Tatiana Skvortosova, 29, who obtained married lower than a month after shifting to Buenos Aires. The pair had additionally modified their final names in Russia so they might faux to be sisters.

“It’s a vital second for us. We’re ready for very lengthy to be formally household,” Nadezhda Skvortosova mentioned after getting married at a Buenos Aires civil registry.

Most of the Russians who arrive in Argentina knew little in regards to the nation earlier than shifting.

“Tango, Che Guevara, and that it was a Spanish colony,” joked Nikolai Shushpan, a 26-year-old homosexual man who moved to Argentina’s capital in October when he began fearing he could possibly be drafted into the struggle.

Shushpan now shares an residence in downtown Buenos Aires with Dimitry Yarin, a fellow Russian he met on a courting app.

Yarin, 21, mentioned he lengthy had plans to maneuver to a extra tolerant nation however “the struggle accelerated that call.”

Due to the discrimination they face at house, lots of the Russians who arrive in Argentina request refugee standing, a course of that may take so long as three years.

Authorities have elevated controls on Russian migrants not too long ago after the arrest of two alleged Russian spies with Argentine passports in Slovenia late final yr.

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For now, Shushpan is having fun with dwelling brazenly as a homosexual man for the primary time. Again house, there was at all times stress and the sensation “that one thing might occur.”

“The one nation the place I didn’t really feel that’s right here. You don’t must be anxious on a regular basis. The one factor you must fear about is costs,” Shushpan mentioned, referring to Argentina’s inflation fee — one of many world’s highest — of about 110%.

After a bit greater than a yr in Argentina, the Dominis share that feeling of reduction.

Within the northwestern Russian metropolis of Petrozavodsk, Anastasia, 34, and Anna, 44, barely instructed anybody about their relationship and two units of twins, ages 3 and 6. There was a continuing concern authorities would take their kids away and put them in an orphanage, Anastasia Domini mentioned.

Now they stay with out having to fret that somebody might take their youngsters or put them in jail.

“We’re completely used to our standing of married ladies and that we’re mother and father of a number of youngsters and that we may be free right here,” she mentioned.

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Related Press videographers Victor R. Caivano and Yesica Brumec contributed to this report. AP reporter Elise Morton contributed from London.

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