Dictators fall when they're overconfident; they stay in power when they're paranoid.
Masha GessenRead
Russia, at the start of the 21st century, at least in its larger cities, very much resembled the United States of the early 1990s: being gay was no longer criminal or shameful, but it was still not a topic for polite conversation or public discussion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the evolving social acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities in Russia compared to the U.S. in the early 90s.
Masha Gessen's quote reflects on the changing attitudes towards LGBTQ+ identities in Russia, particularly in larger cities during the 21st century. It draws a parallel between this gradual acceptance and the situation in the United States in the early 1990s, indicating that while being gay is no longer criminalized, social stigma remains, rendering it a subject often avoided in polite conversation and public discourse.
Themes
LgbtqAcceptanceSocietyStigmaPublic Discourse
In practice
Example use cases
During a panel discussion on LGBTQ+ rights, this quote could illustrate the ongoing social challenges faced by the community.
More from Masha Gessen
All quotes →When you lose your freedom, you lose, first and foremost, the opportunity to choose the company you keep.
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There's the hypothesis that things just keep happening to Russians, things that keep turning them into the same kind of subjects, as opposed to citizens. The more credible hypothesis, I think, is that there is a kind of trauma, a social trauma that is passed on from generation to generation.
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We learn to think of history as something that has already happened, to other people. Our own moment, filled as it is with minutiae destined to be forgotten, always looks smaller in comparison.
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... fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there-because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie. The institution of marriage is going to change, and it should change. And again, I don't think it should exist.
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Any country is either becoming more democratic or less democratic. I think the United States hasn't tended to its journey toward democracy in a long time.
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