While we’ve been made aware of Russian skinheads and the heinous actions they take against gay teens, Vice has now introduced us to gay Russian skinheads.
A chimera if there ever was one, these angry young white men see themselves as preservers of manliness and Russian nationalism, while ignoring the conflicting ideologies they represent.
As writer Nick Chester points out, “the Führer and his Third Reich buddies weren’t too keen on either Russians or homosexuals.” But these gay Russian neo-Nazis fight against the rampant homophobia of their land, often leading to fights with their fellow homophobic skinheads. Though Balu, a member of the Gay Aryan Skinheads (GASH), told Chester he doesn’t understand why they — the skinheads — can’t all just get along.
Below are a few choice quotes from Balu on GASH’s role in the gay rights movement, how he keeps his bald head from exploding at the thought of what he’s doing and the sanctity of really rough sex.
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On the gay rights:
We cooperate with the normal gay community a little bit, yeah. Sometimes we despise them, though, because each of our actions yields a result, and the actions of normal gay communities in Russia only exacerbate the situation with regards to society, homophobes, and gays.
[…]
Sometimes lesbians reach out to us, but we explain to them that they don’t have a place in our ranks….Transsexuals aren’t present among us and I don’t see that it’s possible for them to be….We believe that we’re at war and that there’s no place for women and men who consider themselves to be women. The fact that it’s specifically a man’s fight is an integral part of our ideology.
[…]
In Russia, the rights of gays are hugely restricted, and we can’t sit back quietly when a person is killed just because he’s gay. Many people from the Caucasus [a region at the border of Europe and Asia] furiously oppose gays. Someone has to reject the pressure that they exert by real brute force.
On their ideology:
Our ideology consists of clearing the planet of “dirty” nationalities. We fight for purity of blood, for white skin color and for strong and beautiful people. We don’t accept white guys or white girls who hook up with black men. It is disgusting to observe such interracial unions. Why share your life with such rejects when there are healthy white guys?
[…]
Not all heterosexual nationalists are homophobes; they are often latent homosexuals, actually. We fight nationalist homophobes in the same way that we fight against any other homophobes….We don’t understand why our brothers oppose us. After all, we have nothing against heterosexuals and we have no plan to make the entire planet gay.
[…]
I don’t think Hitler even personally wanted to gas gays, but the ideology demanded it.
On the role of sex in their movement:
Our sexual life generally consists of BDSM, especially sadomasochism. Our brothers aren’t engaged in tenderness on silk sheets—we commit truly manly acts….Almost all nationalists have a piercing, traditional leather skinhead jackboots, and blue jeans, which became a sexual fetish for us long ago, as well as shaven heads. By our nature, sexual intercourse is rough. This is similar to primitive passion. Some of us have slaves, but they often aren’t nationalists. We treat sex as something sacred. This is similar to how believers treat God. Sex is a transmission of passion, emotions, pleasure and—last but not least—sperm into the body of a brother. We give part of each other. This is a very important part of our sexual life. From outside, it can seem as if we treat sex too thoughtlessly, but this isn’t the case; each act of sexual intercourse between brothers bears a deeper meaning. It is a secret ceremony between the devoted.
Upon reading the entire interview — which you should because it’s fascinating — one might think that this was all just some joke or post-ironic irony bullshit from those damn hipsters at Vice. We mean, their flag has two dicks crossing each other for gay’s sake.
But considering Russia’s emphasis on masculinity — President Vladimir Putin’s oft-shirtless excursions serving as a prime, albeit incredibly homoerotic, example — and its subsequent crackdown on the lives of LGBT people, the birth of a movement of nationalistic, hyper-masculine gay “warriors” doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
The “real brute force” Balu is referring to is no doubt a response to the violence and institutionalized discrimination facing gays in Russia everyday. That this force translates to their sexual lives is, well, let’s be real, kind of hot. The anger they possess is probably conflated by what appears to be a complete lack of self-awareness or a willingness to ignore the overwhelming self-hatred that would otherwise be intrinsic to their ideology, manifesting itself in the rejection of the “weaker” members of the LGBT spectrum.
Or maybe they’re all just idiots. Who knows? The only thing we can be sure of is that Anderson Cooper better watch his back. That silver fox is catnip to those neo-Nazis.
cctv
History of gay facists: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-strange-strange-story_b_136697.html
Scribe38
A r@cist group by any other name is still a r@cist fucking group. They are too stupid to realize they are just as hated as the other minority groups they bar from their social group. They make as much sense as GOP Proud
fagburn
If you believe anything you read in the sensationalist hype mag VICE we are DOOMED!
crowebobby
My enemies enemies are my friends . . . sometimes?
2eo
If this isn’t some kind of neo-irony then please execute them immediately, with all the other christofascists.
hyhybt
We mean, their flag has two dicks crossing each other for gay’s sake.
And four more, with rather severe cases of Peyronie’s Disease, forming the swastika.
Or maybe they’re all just idiots.
No maybe about that! Though Scott Lively would be proud.
redcarpet
Their existence is probably overblown. I’d imagine these types are a tiny minority of our minority.
And yes, militant resistance does make sense given what is going on in Russia, but like another poster mentioned, this particular resistance makes about as much sense as GOProud or Log Cabin.
stfallon1028
Um, what?
the other Greg
Just a guess, but maybe a bad Russian translation of Susan Sontag’s “Notes On Camp” got popular over there?
Javer
http://www.spectrumhr.org/hot-news-1/recentneonazivictimdiesanti-naziactivistsindanger
jwrappaport
Show any of these people Reggie Bush shirtless and they’ll break ranks.
steveleong
Russia – another HOLOCAUST! And the world looks on. And the Olympic’s decision to participate there … and it goes on in Africa, and the Middle East, and the Caribbean. And many in the Gay population have fun making camp remarks about it. These are Gay people being crucified!!!
Condemnation, discrimination, and crucifixion towards their OWN Gay brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren, relatives and friends, in the name of religion. Good religion, bad, hateful, ugly people!
PRAISE GOD for the UNIVERSAL LAW that transcends all others: WHAT ONE SOWS, SO SHALL THEY REAP.
Fawkes
I wasn’t aware GOProud opened a chapter in Russia.
Brendan
Regardless of their sexuality, I personally would never support the actions of a white supremacist group. And to be gay and want equal rights but then join a group that exclude and demeans others is just not something I understand…
toyotabedzrock
Well they are a joke now aren’t they.
They are like the LogCabin Republicans before they got invited to mainstream events.
Teleny
Ernst Rohm and his clique of homo-Nazis were very similar with an emphasis on bsdm and ‘masculine’ homosexuality. We all know how that turned out for them. These guys are the Beavis & Buttheads of the glbt movement.
CreoClay
This is so incredibly deplorable and hypocritical. Reading through the VICE interview Balu first openly detests non white races
“Our ideology consists of clearing the planet of “dirty” nationalities. We fight for purity of blood, for white skin color and for strong and beautiful people. We don’t accept white guys or white girls who hook up with black men. It is disgusting to observe such interracial unions. Why share your life with such rejects when there are healthy white guys?”
but then later questions why they’re hated on for being gay
“Yes, we fight against homophobes irrespective of the color of their skin or their nationality. We don’t understand why our brothers oppose us. After all, we have nothing against heterosexuals and we have no plan to make the entire planet gay”
Seriously? How fucked in the head is this guy? These groups seem to have latched on to their white privilege so as to try and distance themselves from minority status for being gay. I’m certain they do fight with other skinhead groups but I have little doubt they also try to appeal to those same groups to accept them and ally against immigrants and non white races.
The takeaway from this is that LGBT people are not above bigotry because we have been the victims of it. Racism is still an issue in the gay community, the difference is Balu’s is blatant while ours is casual and often hidden in modern prejudice. If your Grindr profile says anything along the lines of “No Blacks, Asians, Latin,or Fems” you should take a long critical look at yourself. You’re not as far off from these groups as you’d like to think.
Kangol
Fascism, white supremacy, racism, sexism, misogyny, transphobia, effemiphobia, hypernationalism, you name it if it’s all kinds of wrong, and these crazy Russian Nazi wannabes are right up in it!
manjoguy
“… these angry young white men…”, why was it mentioned that the men were white? Only the Obama democrats get so involved with race (and we know they’ll demonize whites whenever they can).
h8ers2theleft
Uhh…so as a black gay person, I should still run when I see this dudes, right?
dwndckd
@h8ers2theleft, chances are—it would be a good “fucking” idea…..Unless ou are able to pull a rabbit out of your azz and ride away…
Pix
I met “gay skins” before, that is I saw them and heard more about them, and about 3 years later I talked to another one on the net (while impersonating a gay male sympathizing with his ideology as I was just too curious about it) and the gist of it seems to be that they worship an idealized version of the Roman Empire that believed men had sex with men and women were just for obligatory breeding to keep the state strong and of a certain Nazi officer believed to be gay (and that Hitler let others push him into targeting gays, IIRC, but made exceptions when he could). They were very misogynist and believed the lowest form of life was a Jewish lesbian. ‘Course the one I chatted with OL never figured out I was a lesbian myself. 😉
x
As for the ones I saw IRL, the other skins and neo-nazis hated them passionately. As for the punks & anarchists who went to that same mosh pit where I saw them they considered the gayskins odd enigmas, but ultimately still trash like all the other white supremacist fascists (but were usually otherwise fine with gays, lesbians, gender benders, etc). Nobody liked the gayskins.