INTERVIEW
Can you see an end to LGBT
persecution in Russia?
No, there will be no end because
LGBT people are a great scapegoat.
They are being viewed as agents of
the west and Russia is a very
nationalistic anti-western country.
It’s also important to know that the
majority of Russian society hates
everything that is different. 86% of
the Russian population is in full
support of those laws. Nobody is
going to be taking these laws off the
books anytime soon.
How was your upbringing in
Russia? Did you suffer
homophobic assaults or abuse?
I came out very early when I was a
student at law university in Moscow
where people were a little bit more
open-minded. It was during a very
short period of time when people
didn’t hate the west and were open
to western ideas. The president at
the time, Boris Yeltsin, was actually
granting people the rights. So this
time in my life was easier than my
earlier days in school when students
and teachers were constantly poking
fun and harassing me. I wasn’t
physically assaulted because I was
strong enough to defend myself.
Unfortunately, I am an exception to
the rule because many people were
constantly beaten up. Particularly in
the smaller cities
Were your parents accepting of
your sexuality?
Yes. I was lucky to have been
brought up by an educated and
loving family. My grandmother was
a piano teacher and knew a lot of
gay musicians and my mother was a
physiologist of Russian literature
and taught foreigners the Russian
language. But again, my family was
an exception to the rule.
You’ve been a US citizen for 10
years now, how do you think
the gay rights movement is
doing in the US?
I have lived in the US since 1997 and
it is incredible how much America
has changed over the last 17 years.
We are moving faster and faster and
the gay community is very close to
achieving everything we have hoped
for. The LGBT community is very
visible, strong and very active. I can
see the day when both the
democratic and republican party
will fight for the gay vote.
So with a couple of
documentaries under your belt
now, which is more fulfilling porn or documentary making?
46 AUG / SEPT 2014 | THEGAYUK
These are two absolutely different
things and cannot be compared.
Porn is the job that I live off of and
that also paid for both
documentaries. ($100,000 each.)
So, thank you porn for letting me
bring the attention to important
subjects that I am passionate about.
Has your background in porn
hindered your documentary
making?
Not at all. It has probably helped
because gay people that know me
helped make it easier.
Have your subjects in the
documentaries known who you
are outside the confines of the
documentary?
Definitely all the gay men did.
In the past you’ve held what
some would call - controversial
views on Islam, do you think
this could be a topic for a
future documentary highlighting the pressures on
gay Muslims?
No, and for the simple reason that in
Russia the homosexual act is not
criminalised while in the
overwhelming majority of Muslim
countries you can be punished by
jail time or even death. There is also
the situation where people can be
killed by their relatives (so called,
honour killings) for being gay and
Muslim people do live by religious
books and not by laws. And religious
books including the Quran call for
the murder of homosexuals. So I
wouldn’t put anyone into danger of
being persecuted for appearing in
my film because this documentary
would obviously out them.
What’s something people are
often surprised to learn about
you?
Probably, that I do not party, drink,
smoke and that I have never
touched drugs and do not go to
nightclubs. I prefer to spend time
with my friends & family. Oh, and
that I have alwa