Queer As Art issue 2 April-May-June 2017 | Page 32

didn't fit in the conventional family values
had to lead double lives. In the USSR,
which was way stricter on these matters as
stated before, meetings had to be
carefully organized, and were only
possible in certain social circles, mainly in
big cities but also in some organizations
where gender separation made same-sex
relationships more likely, such as Gulags
or the Red Army. There existed some
underground press as well, such as the
poet Yevgeny Kharitonov and the poet
and essayist Gennady Trifonov.
In other socialist countries, a few
meeting points appeared in big cities after
the legalization of homosexuality: public
restrooms, bathing houses or saunas, as
well as some bars or cinema. Despite
having a legal right to exist, they all
retained their aura of marginality and
secrecy, and tended to be shut down by
police if discovered. Lesbians and trans
people were underrepresented and
struggled to meet like-minded people. For
example, only a few bars and cafés were
frequented by lesbians, and even then,
they represented around 10-15% of the
clientele, according to a Hungarian
a c c o u n t . H o w e v e r, l e s b i a n s f o u n d
themselves less persecuted by the law
than gay men, because female sexuality
was given so little thought that same-sex
female attraction was mostly unrecognized
and hence not outlawed.
East Berlin was by far the most
liberal city of the Eastern bloc, it was also
the only place which developed a LGBT
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community and a gay scene in similar
proportions as cities of the West did. In
East Germany, homosexual acts ceased to
b e p u n i s h e d i n t h e 5 0 s , a n d LG
organization were allowed to organize
themselves freely as long as they had
some kind of connection with the
Protestant Church. Several
neighbourhoods especially were known
for being a centre of LG activity and
gained the nickname "the warmest corner
of the East". The most well-known
organization was the activist group
Homosexuelle Interessengemeinschaft
Berlin (HIB). It was created in 1973 after a
screening of the movie Nicht der
homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die
Gesellschaft, in der er lebt (It is not the
homosexual that is perverted, but the
society in which he lives).
This movie had a huge impact on
LGBT people at the time, making them
realize the importance of their combat,
and the need for structured, broad
organizations rather than what they had at
the time, which was a few hidden meeting
points (some apartments were used for
political and social meetings or as
unofficial libraries). The HIB was very active
during the 70s. Its goals were to have the
community gain visibility, by organizing
events for up to 200 people, and lobbying
the East German authorities for official
state recognition. These activists' tactics
(film-making, appropriation of public
space) actually blended with Western
ideologies and methods, due to broad
contact and sharing of resources with