6 mins
I spoke with Elena Kostyuchenko
The attack took place under the following circumstances. A large number of people in civilian clothes, many of whom are young Ossetians in Antiterror T-shirts, began to surround the mothers from the Voice of Beslan in the gym. They were filmed on camera by Ella Kesaeva. They grabbed the camera from her hands and tore Ella's dress. At that moment, Kostyuchenko took out her phone and began to film what was happening. They also grabbed her phone, twisted her arms and dragged her through the entire gym and courtyard of the First School beyond the metal frames. They dragged further, but the people in civilian clothes were stopped by the police. Who told Kostyuchenko that they knew those who attacked her and would return her phone. Lena was next to the police when a young man, familiar to the police, in an "Antiterror" T-shirt approached her and doused her with brilliant green. The police made no attempt to apprehend him. When Diana Khachatryan tried to take pictures of Lena and the traces of brilliant green on her clothes and face, another young man in an "Anti-Terror" T-shirt hit Diana on the head, took away the phone and left without haste. The police made no attempt to detain the person and prevent hooligan actions.
At the moment, they are trying to take away explanations from Lena Kostyuchenko, but the police do not introduce themselves and hide the tokens. To my attempt to talk to them (I introduced myself - I spoke on the phone to Ella Kesaeva, who handed her phone to Lena so that she could contact the editorial office) - the policeman who was conducting official actions with Kostuchenka swore and hung up.
Also, after the attack, Lena Kostyuchenko and the mothers of the “Voice of Beslan” were approached by the head of the “Mothers of Beslan” Committee, Susanna Dudieva, and said: “You (addressing the mothers from“ Voice ”) can return to the gym of the First School. And you (addressing Kostyuchenko) - sit here. Always, when Novaya Gazeta comes here, something happens. I don’t want to see you here again. The phone will be given to you after research (apparently the contents and footage on the phone). "
Ella Kesaeva
Today, September 3, 2016, we arrived at 12 o'clock at the school where the terrorist attack took place. Men in civilian clothes stood on both sides of the exit from the house. Person 10. From experience, I can already figure out the employee (police or FSB). There were the same in the gym. Person 70. Dozens of glass eyes followed my every movement. I sat on a bench with other women and began filming the gym with this audience. Then she lifted the paper that was in my hand. The paper was clean, without a single inscription. Immediately they jumped out of this group of young men and grabbed my paper, tearing at the same time a piece of my dress. Journalist Elena Kostyuchenko and Diana Khachatryan stood nearby and filmed. And suddenly I saw that Lena was dragged out of the gym. I ran after. Several zombies grabbed my camera at once. They pulled out in the presence of the police. A full, low peasant jumped up, pulled out the camera and ran. It was a police officer. But in civilian. I remember him from his arrest on September 1 in the building of the ROVD. True, there he was in police uniform. The women and I ran after him shouting, "Give me the camera." Although he was full, he ran quickly. I crossed the gate, surrounded by a dozen police officers, where she was carefully searched for us, and ran to a group of her colleagues of 4 people. Threw the camera into the car. He turned around and, breathing heavily, blurted out: "I don't have your camera." Nearby police officers ironically said: "Go to the department and write down the statement." Meanwhile, the man got into the car and drove away. We turned back. Elena and Diana were sitting not far from the school fence. Both have their phones stolen. Also employees. Lena was also doused with brilliant green. They took their applications and we walked through the entire courtyard of the school to get out on the other side of the courtyard and go to the cemetery. We were followed by a train of disguised civilians. A few dozens. Fifty meters away, a gate with a mine detector was set up to the cemetery. The zombies arrived before us and again made a thorough check of every piece of paper in my bag. Journalists Lena and Diana were also there. When we arrived at the place, we missed each other, which I very much regret. Lena was again attacked. I found out about this when I came home from the Internet. We managed to contact Lena only once through the phone we gave her. The girls were kept at the ROVD. What happened to them next, we do not know. We came to our home together with other victims. While they were with us, cars with the police came twice. They were interested in my phone and asked to go to the ROVD. Didn't go.
IN THE HEADING "BOOKSHELF" we ask journalists, writers, scientists, curators and other heroines about their literary preferences and publications that occupy important place in their bookcase. Today Elena Kostyuchenko, a special correspondent for Novaya Gazeta, shares her stories about her favorite books.
Elena Kostyuchenko
Special Correspondent
"Novaya Gazeta"
We cannot see the world through the eyes of another person, but literature helps to get closer to him. You can crawl into the head of a dead man - wow
Literature for me has ceased to be something sacred, which only bearded men from textbooks do, in the tenth grade. Then I lived in Yaroslavl and went to a circle for high school students, in which we discussed contemporary authors - from Viktor Pelevin to Tatiana Tolstaya. I always read a lot, but after moving to Moscow, it turned out that there is a whole layer of literature that all the Muscovites of journalism loved - and which I did not know at all. All modern foreign countries from Suskind to Palahniuk. I panicked. I went to the book fair at the All-Russian Exhibition Center and bought two thousand books. It was money for a month from my mother. The rest of the month I ate buckwheat - the neighbors shared. The first six months in Moscow, I only did what I read, did not even walk properly.
Probably, the Strugatskys, Boris Vasiliev and Svetlana Aleksievich influenced me the most. I learned Aleksievich before her Nobel Prize- she plowed me great when I was twelve. I still have a very difficult relationship with Zakhar Prilepin. "Sankya" and "Pathology" are modern classic... His books and life do not seem to contradict each other, but they do not connect at all in my head. It seems like a person who feels so keenly cannot do what he does and say what he says.
You can, of course, learn endlessly from Chekhov; this is the golden ratio. There is a "Story about the Seven Hanged" by Leonid Andreev, there is a "Red Flower" by Vsevolod Garshin. I feel all the time that I lack knowledge of Russian. I run into the fact that I don't have enough words to describe what I saw, that I don't take the most accurate ones, that I don't know how, I can't: this is both a humiliating and very sobering feeling. The description of the city in The Ugly Swans by the Strugatskys is unattainable for me. Although this is not Tolstoy - Soviet fiction.
Some say: it is easier for writers than for journalists, they are free from reality, formats and generally take the world out of their heads. But the scope of the profession is actually very helpful in writing. I understand that writers live in another dimension, for them language is like an ocean around a small fish: endless, scary and native. We cannot see the world through the eyes of another person, literature helps to get closer to him. You can get into the head of a dead man - wow.
Reading is also a way to quickly enter the desired state, move away from difficult events, which you regularly find yourself in on business trips and just during work. Very often I see traumatic things. Of course, there are skills that allow you not to deeply "sink" into someone else's life. You can get yourself together at the right moment, you can not cry, you can not feel at all, but everything that I see and hear, of course, is deposited in me. Reading helps better than movies, it is more thorough.
Journalism is a completely unhealthy activity, of course. And when it's hard for me, I re-read something already known. The world of an unread book is always endless: you do not know where the author will lead you, how cruel he can treat you. The familiar book does not surprise with new twists, but it brings comfort in itself: you can safely experience something. For a long time I scolded myself for endless rereading - there is a sea of unread. They say every journalist has a list in his head. Here I am. I didn’t even open a third of the books in my library, and I’m kind of ashamed to admit it. But my therapist convinced me that with so many variables in life, it's perfectly normal to have an island of resilience. And for me this island is my favorite books.
The world of an unread book is always endless: you don't know where the author will take you. A familiar book does not surprise with new twists, but it brings comfort
Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
"Vita Nostra"
I love modern science fiction writers very much, I follow them closely. I read this book several years ago and since then I return to it about once a year. I remember very well the first time I read it: I opened it in a browser at work, then printed it out, continued on the subway, then at home that evening. I finished at two in the morning, and it seemed like I was standing inside a pillar of light. This is the story of a student whose life is going through strange turns - I don't want to spoil it at all. "Vita Nostra" for me is a novel about language, the mixing of the linguistic and physical fabric of the world. The book explained a lot to me about myself.
Natalie Sarrott
"Tropisms"
This is Mulholland Drive, written in book form forty years earlier. Natalie Sarrott looks at the world from an unimaginable angle. "Tropism" is a biology term that denotes the similarity of reflexes in plants: how they strive for light or seek support, open up or die. In more general words, tropisms are the reactions of a living, unconscious. Sarroth focuses on everyday situations, but not on the semantic and emotional component. Anyone needs to change their "focal length" (as a journalist, I absolutely must), and Natalie Sarrott is the best author for that.
Ksenia Buksha
"We Live Wrong"
These stories are somewhat similar to Sarroth - not in the way they are made, but in the fact that both writers see very differently. Buksha has a very simple, transparent Russian. Her stories often start at random and end in unexpected places — they seem to ignore the classical model of storytelling at all. They look awkward, casual. I really love reading women, and Buksha is one of my favorites. I found out about her five years ago and then saw her in St. Petersburg. We even kind of took a ride in a limousine. The world around her is somehow spinning in a different way.
Hillary Rettig
“Write professionally. How to overcome procrastination, perfectionism, creative crises "
A guide to overcoming writing block and perfectionism, relevant for people who constantly work with text. You can say this is my reference book: I do not have enough energy for systematic work, but I constantly use the methods described by Rettig. About three years ago, I got stuck in the cruellest writing block and almost finished myself - I'm used to defining myself through texts and profession. What could be funnier than a non-writing journalist?
Retting very clearly explains why this stupor occurs, and suggests a way around it. She writes about systemic myths that get in the way of just about everyone: inspiration as magical state, writing as inevitable self-destruction, and so on. Lays out what the problem with writing consists of, how it is related to character traits, and why the writing block is more of a defense mechanism. In the same place - about time planning, negotiations with publishers, basic rules of working communication. Now I am sorting out my relationship with the inner dictator and I am learning to quickly finish the texts that are difficult for me. I am very grateful to the publishers and translators for this book.
Roman Super
"One Blood"
A very powerful book by Roman Super - both about cancer and about love, about the music inside and inside our state, about inevitability and miracles. Super takes a scary chunk of his life and talks about it in great detail and very honestly. He is not at all shy about writing what he feels, not afraid to seem naive and vulnerable. With the author, we simultaneously studied at the Faculty of Journalism and then followed each other; I knew that he was writing this book, he asked some publishing things - but the book stunned me.
She also helped me a lot: a person close to me died of cancer two years ago. I still cannot say that I left this behind. I started crying from the third page (there is nothing scary there yet) and bellowed to the very end. As if she went through everything anew, but not alone. In fact, this is a big book about love, where cancer is just a circumstance. It is also about trusting the world and about gratitude: I finished reading and called all my loved ones to say thank you.
Alexander Anashevich
"Unpleasant movie"
In the mid-2000s, we had an explosive flowering of poetry (that's true), and I tried to read everyone. Now poetry is somehow outside the general agenda, but I am very worried about poets who write in Russian. Anashevich is quite special among them: he has dark magic and miracles, counting rhymes, music that cannot be confused with anything. These are very sensual poems. Sometimes I wake up and understand: I want to read Anashevich - and I read without stopping all day. And the book is thin.
Pascal Brueckner
“Eternal euphoria. Essay on Forced Happiness "
I hardly read philosophy - it's difficult for me. This book was a gift from a friend, it greatly influenced me. Brueckner writes that the common pursuit of happiness is a dictate of culture, moreover modern, and happiness is an imposed goal for many of us. It is the desire to be happy constantly and at any cost that makes people feel their "failure" and "inferiority" for most of their lives. At first it's shocking, but now I rather agree with Brueckner: you don't have to be happy. Life is good without it. Allowing yourself to feel different, you find in yourself and around much more reasons for joy and tranquility. This book is about how to get out of the competitive race to happiness - Brueckner expands the framework of normality and introduces the ability to honestly be sad, sad and angry.
Maria Berkovich
"Fearless world"
These are notes of a correctional teacher, in fact a work diary, sometimes a notebook of poems. Here Berkovich describes how she works and makes friends with a girl who does not speak, does not see, does not hear and hardly walks. And they have such a serious, intense life - with all sorts of passions and joys. The “Fearless World” moves the boundaries a lot: I even began to feel my fingers in a different way.
Masha is also an example of how you can be grateful for just about everything - naturally grateful, without effort. In my work, I constantly run into questions of why the world is so arranged; Masha does not even see them, although she constantly descends into the abyss of pain and systemic misfortunes. She wrestles children from darkness and walks with them to the other side, and it's all very exciting. She is sure that the world is not scary. I often re-read this book when I become completely ungrateful: "The Ugly World" works not for pity, but for a fundamentally new view of a person.
Konstantin Sedov
"Neuropsycholinguistics"
I am very sorry that I entered the Faculty of Journalism instead of the Faculty of Philology. The newspaper would not leave me anywhere, but I would understand much more about my native Russian. From time to time I ride Sparrow Hills to the first humanitarian building. There are two benches on the first floor. I buy professional literature, then I read with pleasure. Such a guilty pleasure for a media worker. I, of course, will not catch up with anything and will not acquire systemic knowledge. But this greatly refreshes the sense of the language and helps to better understand some of its hidden movements. Besides, it's just wildly interesting.
Linor Goralik
"Oral folk art of the inhabitants of the M1 sector"
I am very fond of invented, constructed folklore. This book was handed to me in the hospital - I was lying there after the attack at the gay pride parade and was slowly losing my hearing. It was hard: I had a damaged auditory nerve, journalists constantly called me asking what it was like to be a lesbian, my mother called, and it was generally beyond the bounds. This book is a description of hell and a collection of local folklore. Goralik generally thinks a lot about the structure of the world, she has a very complex and intense relationship with God. It sounds sad, but it saved me then. Saves now. The book is freaky.
Do you want to change this world
Can you take it as it is
Get up and get out of the way
Sit on the electric chair or the throne?
Viktor Tsoi
Does Moscow need gay pride parades? The reason for the conversation in the RIA Novosti studio was the story of Elena Kostyuchenko, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, who, as a participant in the parade, was beaten in the capital on May 28. How and why this happened, and what Elena and her friends were fighting for, she will tell the journalist Irina Yasina. Also visiting "ABC of Changes" - Evgenia Albats, editor-in-chief of "The New Times" magazine.
Why the "civilized" society beats the participants of the gay pride parade in Moscow
Irina Yasina (I.Ya.): At the end of May, Moscow was excited by the fact that a gay parade took place. And the blogging community was further agitated by an article by Lena Kostyuchenko, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, in which she confessed that she was a lesbian and discussed why she was going to a gay pride parade. Today my guests are the editor-in-chief of the New times magazine Evgenia Albats and Elena Kostyuchenko. The first question is for Zhenya. What impression did this article in Novaya Gazeta make on you?
Evgeniya Albats (EA): Thank you for inviting me, because I think this is a very important topic. It seems to me that it is necessary to talk about it in detail. It was an amazing feeling when I read this girl's post. Because this is the act of a very courageous person who declares what representatives of various minorities - political, religious, sexual - always declare: "I am who I am, be so kind as to accept me as I am."
I.Ya .: And I don't want to hide!
Е.А .: And it was absolutely amazing. And the fact that in our very illiberal, very authoritarian society she allowed herself so frankly, in such detail, to even some, if you like, self-indulgence, which is absolutely necessary here, to tell about it - made a very strong impression on me. It's just an act. And the most important thing, it seems to me, is that this Lenin post broke the information blockade.
I.Ya .: Yes, because I wanted to talk about it.
Е.А .: In general, people suddenly saw that in front of them was the same person as they were. Lena, who has different ideas about how she wants to make love. And nobody's business - to get into this question.
I.Ya .: Lena, after you wrote this note, this post, you went to a gay parade. Did you know what awaits you there? Were you scared?
Elena Kostyuchenko (E.K.): I could have assumed that there was a possibility that I would be beaten, because before that I went to gay pride parades as a journalist for Novaya Gazeta and saw what was happening with the participants. But there was no such direct fear. Rather, when I was still driving to Manezhnaya Square, it felt as if you were going to take an exam, for which you were not ready. That is, such an unpleasant sensation, but not fear. Then, when my girlfriend and I unfurled the flag, it was no longer scary. But I cannot say, of course, that I was prepared for what happened. It's one thing when you theoretically understand that someone's fist can fly into your head, it's another thing when someone's fist really flies into your head. It both hurts, and I am very offended that this man came up to me from the back. I had no chance to defend myself somehow, that is, none. For some reason, this is very insulting to me.
I.Ya .: Do you now know who it was?
E.K .: No! And this maddens me, because this man was detained by police officers immediately after he hit me. A criminal case has now been initiated, in which I have been recognized as a victim, but the interrogator has still not told me the name of this person. She said: "First your interrogation, then, after interrogation, let's say your name." Then during interrogation she said: "No, first there will be an identification, then we will tell you the name." Now she seems to be saying something about the confrontation, and then I’ll find out his name. This is my first participation in a criminal case as a victim, but, in my opinion, it is not normal when I do not know the name of the person who beat me on the temple.
I.Ya .: Lena, how do you feel now?
Е.К .: I would like to say: good, but, in fact, I am going to the hospital today. Yesterday I went to the polyclinic to close my sick leave, but they drove me around for examinations, and it turned out that I had neuro-sensory hearing loss. In short, I am losing my hearing, and this needs to be treated very quickly so that it does not turn into chronic form... Therefore, now my editorial office is engaged in placing me in some kind of clinic. Literally in half an hour, in an hour I go to bed.
I.Ya .: If you need help, you tell us, we will also connect.
Е.К .: Thank you very much.
I.Ya .: Zhen, don't you think that you can get in the temple for an expanded slogan, for some wrong appearance also because in our semi-feudal society these guys shock this society too much. Maybe wait until it is a little civilized, is this society?
Homophobes of the 20th century, or the terrible Death on a flagpole
Е.А .: Let me remind you that in our wonderful fatherland, gays were once imprisoned.
I.Ya .: In Nazi Germany they were imprisoned in a concentration camp.
Е.А .: Yes, but lesbians were hung on lanterns. And gays were hanged. Such death for them was invented by the Nazis. They were dying on flagpoles ... I completely disagree, to be honest, with such a formulation of the question. Because gays and lesbians are citizens Russian Federation... And if they are not citizens, then they are tax residents, they are taxpayers, they also contain, by the way, those law enforcement agencies that are obliged to protect them. And they exactly also have the right to the 31st article of the Constitution, namely, the right to rallies, meetings, etc. And if Messrs Sobyanin, Luzhkov and others have a terrible fear that God forbid ... And I must tell you: research shows that the most ardent homophobes are hidden.
I.Ya .: Okay. We will not touch this.
Е.А .: This should be touched, because where does this fear come from? Here we have seen the statements of Sobyanin, Luzhkov. You see, a person has different sexual fantasies, and people hammer it in themselves.
I.Ya .: But Zhen, I don't want this to be our topic now ...
Е.А .: Ira, then it is not clear where this is coming from.
I.Ya .: I admit that it just goes out of habit. Because it seems to everyone that this has always been in society, and even more so that now we have all become wildly Christian, and any religion prohibits sodomy, so I just would not want to touch this. It is just important for me to emphasize that in these gay pride parades I see, first of all, not a demonstration of my own peculiarity, although it too, but, above all, a struggle for rights. And I insist that there can be no right of some, which excludes the same right from others. We are all equal after all. I still wanted to ask. Lena, can you imagine how it started in other countries?
Е.К .: I, of course, know about the Stonewall riots. I don't think I am the best storyteller ... It was not so long ago ...
I.Ya .: I was five years old then ...
EK:… Yes. It is difficult to imagine that at that moment in America, gays were not only deprived of civil rights but they were persecuted under the law, including if the men held hands or danced together or wore women's clothing. In one gay bar, the police raided with a seemingly routine check. The visitors were lined up along the wall, demanded to show their documents, and some were taken to the toilet for what was then called a "floor check". The visitors refused to obey, after which there was street fighting in the area for three days. And for the next gay action, and before that there were already gay actions, but these were polite gay actions, that is, people did not even use the words "gays", "lesbians" ...
I.Ya .: Were you ashamed of this?
Е.К .: Not that they are shy. "Let's not provoke society, if we say the word" gay ", public morality will die in terrible agony." After that, in fact, a big serious movement for rights began, and now we see that the States ... I cannot say that this is the most progressive country.
I.Ya .: And which is the most progressive, from your point of view?
E.K .: As far as I know, this is Denmark.
I.Ya .: And in Iceland, as far as I know, the prime minister is an open lesbian ... And the mayor of Berlin is ...
Е.К .: In fact, I don't know much about the history of the LGBT movement. I can now make a lot of factual mistakes, because I am not an LGBT activist ...
"I am who I am"
I.Ya .: But you are a civil activist, I would say. Zhen, I have a question for you. Our liberal friends are fighting for their rights, but they completely deny the rights of these minorities. Let me remind you that at one time the gay movement wanted to join the "Strategy-31". "Strategy-31" was horrified, recoiled and said: "No, no, don't." How do you feel about this?
Е.А .: I have a very bad attitude to this. I'll tell you, Ir, for me there was such a breakdown of consciousness or, as today's youth say, an explosion of the brain. In the summer of 1993, there was the millionth gay and lesbian march in Washington DC. I watched it on TV, and it made an incredible impression on me, because the main slogan with which people of this sexual orientation went was: "I am what I am." The right to one's own individuality is an absolute human right. And it doesn't matter in what way your individuality is manifested: in your political views, in your sexual orientation, in anything else - these are all human rights.
I.Ya .: But wait. Something is given from birth, such as skin color, and something is invented as political views.
Е.А .: This is the right to choose. This is the second most important gift of God to man after birth. In general, I’ll tell you: the first man was a hermaphrodite, right? Therefore, all these male bells and whistles that appeared with the development of monotheism are always fear, in this case, of men or rulers in front of others. After 1993, and back in the late 90s, and in the 2000s, there were cases in New York when gays were killed. In our country, this was a complete nightmare. By the way, few people know: we once had a "sociology of deviant behavior" - it was so called, under the Ministry of Internal Affairs Soviet Union, which studied what they called "deviant behavior." And they found out that, for example, in the Soviet Union there were many hidden lesbians, especially among teachers.
Е.А .: Not in secret archives. These were the works of the sociologist Anzor Gabiani. And I wrote about this in the Izvestia newspaper, because the topics were completely closed. We also know that research has shown that approximately 15% of gays and lesbians are people who are born that way. But, again, it doesn't matter - from birth or choice. Now there is a fantastic musical on Broadway, with the main aria - "I am who I am". "I am who I am". A person has the right to choose for himself what he wants to be.
I.Ya .: But society is afraid. In particular, some liberals tell me: "Well, how can we, and so we have problems with demography. What a disgrace. They will never give birth to children. Our country without children is dying anyway."
Same-sex relationship - marriage without marriage and the collapse of dreams
Е.А .: The same liberals were afraid at the beginning of the 20th century to give rights to women. This is the fear of competition. At first they were afraid that women would come and take political positions, and the men, the poor unfortunate, would not be able to withstand this competition. Well, of course, they can't stand it - the weaker sex. Then they were afraid that people with a different skin color would come, and children would be born with in different colors skin. Again, this is the fear of competition. Now Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America. There was absolute fear. The same. Fear of people of other religions. Such a fear of Jews, such a fear of absolutely anyone else. And here in the same row is the fear of gays and lesbians.
I.Ya .: Lena, what would you like, what rights? Why are you going to the parade?
Е.К .: Sexual orientation is not a question of how you have sex. This is a question of who you love, with whom you want to start a family and how you will protect this family. In our country, unfortunately, it is impossible to register same-sex relationships. I cannot register a relationship with my girlfriend. Accordingly, she is not protected in the event of my death, in the event of a property dispute. She will not be able to come to my hospital, to the intensive care unit, she will not be able to make any important medical decision in this case. We cannot take a family mortgage. We are both from other cities - this is important for us. We cannot get family health insurance. And there are a lot of such little things.
I.Ya .: The most important thing is that it does not threaten anything, if the gay community has these rights, it does not threaten the rest. It seems to me. Zhenya, what do you think?
Е.А .: Well, of course, it doesn't threaten anything. You know, there was such a wonderful film, I saw it quite by accident. This is such a tragedy of two women, one of whom is left alone. Her loved one dies alone in the ward, and she is not even warned that the woman she loved, with whom she lived for more than thirty years, has died. It seems to me that these objections to demographics ... If you look, geist and lesbian couples very often have children. It is completely normal for a woman, it is inherent in the nature to have children. And I know: here, in Moscow, and in the United States, I have many such friends - same-sex families in which children grow up beautifully.
I.Ya .: Yes, I know these statistics. There are no deviations in the average statistics. That is, children grow up with that sexual orientation, which, as they say, is destined for them.
Not a childish question about children, or Two mothers have no place in one passport
E.K .: I would also like to talk about children. It seems to me that this is the most important part of the rights that we are denied. About demography. I don't know, maybe I communicate with some special gays and lesbians, but among my acquaintances, either everyone already has children, or they are planned in the near future. And in the same "LJ", "VKontakte", "Two Moms" - a wonderful community, some other communities where same-sex families exchange some experience, including on the issue of interaction with authorities. And what's the problem? The problem is that we cannot ensure that both of us are recorded on the child's birth certificate. Accordingly, we cannot both represent him in kindergarten, school, hospital, God forbid, in court. And the worst thing is that if the biological mother dies, the child is sent to an orphanage, while the second mother is trying to prove to the guardianship authorities that this child is not a stranger, that she will be able to raise him further.
I.Ya .: Well, before that you still have to swim and swim. Prior to this, the rights have not sailed in all developed countries.
Е.К .: I don't know ... You see, the fact is that there are already such children. And we cannot ignore their interests. There are such children, they are growing and are already under legal attack.
I.Ya .: Okay, then I’ll say so. What many bloggers consider a provocation at the Eternal Flame, that gay parade that took place on May 28, will it somehow move you and society towards solving these problems? Or do you need to use some, so to speak, calmer forms of lobbying your interests? A question for both of you.
E.K .: We need different shapes... Gay parades are needed because they are an extra informational occasion that allows journalists, media, readers, bloggers to once again express their opinion or change their opinion about gay rights. We need, of course, some kind of bill.
"Gays are feared as much as vampires and aliens"
I.Ya .: And who could have it ...? I don’t see in our Duma, for example, a person who could support such a bill. Harvey Milk is not among us. Let me remind you that he was a gay, elected to the city council of San Francisco, who made no secret of the election that he was gay. He was killed in the 78th year ... And I must say, the brilliant film was shot in America. For the main male role Harvey Milka is not gay Sean Penn won an Oscar. Nevertheless, returning to the Duma. I can hardly imagine such a person.
Е.К .: Alas, but it still seems to me that the situation can be changed by the massive recognition of gays and lesbians, transgender people, bisexuals: "Yes, we are, we are, we live among you."
I.Ya .: That is, you yourself need to stop being ashamed of it?
E.K .: We need to stop being afraid of the reaction of society, the reaction of parents, colleagues at work. We need to declare that yes, we are. And you see, it is very easy to hate and be afraid of some abstract gays, abstract lesbians, abstract Jews ..., vampires, aliens. When a person lives next to you who is a childhood friend, your daughter, your colleague, a neighbor in the stairwell ...
I.Ya .: In this sense, the same happens with the disabled. Ruben Gonzalez Gallego, who wrote a wonderful book "White on Black", once told me: "The sooner you recognize yourself as an invalid, the easier it will be for you to live." And as long as I was hiding my difficulties (then it became impossible to hide them, but, nevertheless, I hid them for a long time, and this wildly burdened me), as soon as I said that yes, it’s hard for me, I need help, a huge number of people started helping me. I'm trying to figure out what other ways, besides gay pride parades, are there to achieve equal rights? Because we came to general conclusion that it is important. Zhen?
Е.А .: Still, a very important thing happened in 94 -95, when the article for sodomy was abolished in the Criminal Code. Because what happened, I repeat once again, few people know. It's just that I was on the Pardon Commission under the President of the Russian Federation, so I had to read about this and deal with this article. There was a real hunt for gays. They had to put up armored doors, etc. They were suspected all the time that they are the Fifth Column, spies, a nightmare. Therefore, this very important breakthrough was made in the 90s. What Lena tells about children is absolutely new topic... I never thought about it, because I know our colleague who has two wonderful children ... I somehow never thought about it at all, that such a problem can arise in same-sex families. I think this is generally a question of education. Why do I think Lena did a great thing by publishing this post? Because people are always afraid of what they do not understand and do not know. And sometimes they need someone to say to them in normal human language: "Guys, but here I am. I love another woman. Or" I love another man. "You understand. This is important for me. I want to live this way."
I.Ya .: At the same time, I am not bothering you. After all, this is another question ...
Openness to the world is the key to recognition
Е.А .: Ir, are you not afraid that Lena is sitting with us?
I.Ya .: I'm not afraid. Such a wonderful kid. Our daughters with you are about the same. How would you react if your daughter came and said ...?
Е.А .: Quite calmly. I thought about it a lot. For me, it was generally a process when I first met a lesbian couple, they were my fellow journalists at Harvard University. It took me a while to get this into my head. I came from the Soviet Union. I started reading. I thought about it. I talked to them. People are afraid of the unknown or the incomprehensible.
I.Ya .: That is, it is important for you that she is happy, your child?
Е.А .: My daughter? Absolutely.
I.Ya .: That is, in what form it will be, you ...
Е.А .: Absolutely. I want her to have children. I want to be a grandmother.
I.Ya .: Now it does not depend either, actually. May God grant health to Lelka. You and her will have many children, which is what I wish for Lena. Most importantly, from my point of view, Len, what you have done, and here I agree with Zhenya, that courageous remarkable step is this publication, this openness. Persuade your friends to be the same open, because as soon as there are many of you, we will begin to reckon with you, put up with you first, then support you, precisely because you cannot fight for the rights of some, excluding the same rights for others.
Е.А .: If they violate the rights of gays and lesbians, then tomorrow they will come for you and me, Ira.
I.Ya .: Of course, because you and I are exactly the Fifth Column.
Е.А .: No, it doesn't matter. Nobody's rights should be infringed. If we allow people to be next to us, whose civil and political rights are infringed upon, this means that we are next in line. Always. It doesn't matter who we are.
I.Ya .: As blogger Tokuak, my friend, said, “phobias and disrespect for the rights of others, be it the right to freedom of assembly or to choose sexual orientation, is feature mentality of societies at the stage of development where their own rights, and even more so, their inalienability are not realized, in general, phobias are the privilege of the backward and afraid of competition. "
As well as:
Elena Kostyuchenko: Why am I going to a gay pride parade today?
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2011/056/38.html
Dmitry MURATOV: Whose parade? About Kostyuchenko. Characteristic for presentation
http://novayagazeta.livejournal.com/327121.html
Congratulations to Novaya Gazeta
Elena Kostyuchenko is one of the most controversial journalists in Russia. She does not hide her unconventional orientation, which is not typical for famous public figures. Courage? Perhaps ... Who is she really? Everyone must decide for himself.
Facts from the childhood of Elena Kostyuchenko
Elena Kostyuchenko was born (her biography is not known to everyone) in the then Soviet city of Yaroslavl on September 25, 1987. In 1993 she went to school. The journalist's youth fell on the turbulent 1990s, when the country's lifestyle and rules of behavior completely changed. It seems that this is not related to the biography of a specific person, but it is in this case that we can say: under the Soviet way of life, Kostyuchenko could not openly express her sexual position, and it is unlikely that she would have formed just such a worldview.
While still at school, Kostyuchenko began her journalistic career. It was then published in the Yaroslavl newspaper "Severny Kray". Even then, in her articles, one can trace atypical thinking of the author, some kind of protest. Elena herself said that she really liked the articles of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in her own house.
Elena Kostyuchenko. "Novaya Gazeta" opens a new star
Naturally, such an original person as Elena could not settle forever in Yaroslavl. In 2004, she entered the Moscow University at the Faculty of Journalism. The girl studied for a year and realized that it was worth combining study with work. In 2005, Kostyuchenko got a job as a special correspondent for Novaya Gazeta. This step was the beginning of her real career. Of course, it was still a long way to fame, but ...
Let's see what Kostyuchenko writes about in his articles. The first and perhaps most important thing to note is the frequently raised social issues. They are insignificant at first glance. For example, in one of the articles, Elena drew attention to the fact that the railway communication with the village in the Pskov region was canceled. She also very often mentions drug addicts, criminals, etc. in her articles and books. As other Russian journalists note, Elena often writes about people who do not want to break out of the social hole and vice versa, make every effort to rise from the bottom of social degradation. Of course, Elena Kostyuchenko does not forget to write notes from time to time about LGBT people, a movement of which she is a member. She is convinced that homosexuals and lesbians should have the same rights in society as people of traditional orientation. The girl stands for the legalization of unconventional marriages.
Journalism awards
Such an original journalist could not escape the prizes and awards for her work. 2013 was the most fruitful year in terms of awards. Kazakhstan presented her with the Freedom Prize for a series of publications that dealt with protests in one of the Kazakh regions. In the same year, Kostyuchenko received the European Free Press in Eastern Europe award. As you can see, Kostyuchenko's articles have earned the attention of a European reader as well. Well, at the very dawn of her professional career, the Novaya Gazeta journalist was awarded a second degree diploma at the Step to Success competition.
