Queer As Art issue 2 April-May-June 2017 | Page 29

trans people of the West, who organized
into an actual community, defining a new
subculture, making history, winning some
fights and starting others, engaging in
same-sex relationships or non-gender
conforming behaviours in the East still
meant living under secrecy or facing
overwhelming social stigma. But even in
these closely controlled societies, and
despite the state-enforced morals, some
small and very gradual changes took
place.
But how did Eastern bloc states
come to this? Throughout the Middle
Ages, the Renaissance, and for a few more
centuries after that, Eastern Europe and
especially Russia were reputed for their
tolerance in terms of sexual practices.
Even though same-sex sexual activities
were punishable by law (given that the
czar was the garant of the Orthodox
Church which deemed homosexuality a
sin), these jurisdictions were sometimes
disregarded, and many notable figures
were known to have such relationships. In
1917, the Bolshevik Revolution abolished
the Russian Empire legal system, and
replaced it with the Criminal Code of the
Russian Soviet Federalist Socialist Republic
in 1922, which allowed homo sexuality.
Whether this was a conscious decision,
reflecting the views held by legal and
medical professionals at the time, or rather
the result of forgetfulness (considering
homosexuality remained a taboo and that
homosexuals were still prosecuted
sporadically with other articles of the Code
in post-Bolshevik Russia), sparks debate.
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However, this somewhat laxist
tradition when it came same-sex
relationship was brought to a sudden halt
under the stalinist rule. In 1933 and 1934,
the new General Secretary of the RCP re-
instaured anti-sodomy laws. Despite
Stalin’s death in 1953, this governmental
mindset persisted throughout the 60s and
the 70s. The morals promoted by state-
socialist celebrated purely reproductive
intercourse – not unlike traditional,
conservative Christians of the West,
despite the socialist abolition of religion.
The single goal to any sexual relationship
was to procreate in order to provide the
party and the country with more labor-
force. Hence, any kind of sexual behavior
done solely for pleasure was considered a
perversion, be it masturbation or same-sex
relationships. Additionally, gay men were
considered a threat to the soviet ideal of a
strong, virile working man, which was why
it was considered a greater offense to be
the one on the receiving end of sodomy.
Rejection of homosexuality was also
used as a form of propaganda, quite
similarly to what was done in the West.
While in America, homosexuality was
associated to communism as a threat to
American values, socialist states spread
the idea that such practices came from
capitalist countries, where they were
widespread. Most socialist ideologies
associated homosexuality with bourgeois
decadence and aesthete society, and felt
that these "perverted Western morals"
were dangerous to soviet society.