A former friend of mine – gay of course, and of course he kept it secret from all his family, as is common practice in Russia – said to me: ‘What on Earth made you come out? How stupid! Nobody was planning to shop you. The morning paper wasn’t running an investigation.’ I didn’t know what to answer. I couldn’t even explain it clearly to myself – what made me stand up and tell everyone, on a TV show, in a country where they kill gay people for being what they are: ‘Here I am. I too am gay.’ Do you think I wasn’t afraid? That I didn’t feel ashamed? That I didn’t regret ruining my career?
“I’m afraid even now. I’m afraid of going into an empty entrance to a block of flats. I’m afraid of walking down a side street at night. I am afraid. And a little sorry that I probably won’t be allowed to continue working. They won’t let me go back to television. I’m afraid and sorry. But I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of now…The time has now come for me to be courageous. Our time has come.”
— Former Russian TV personality Anton Krasovsky on coming out and the recent murder of Vladislav Tornovoi in The Guardian.
ted72
I commend his courage to come out, but, I’M afraid he’s going to get hurt.
I hope we do something to help THEM (gay Russians) or the more unlikely thing, gay Russians and allies stand up to the masses.
I’m afraid for my gay brothers & sisters in Russia. 🙁
jeff4justice
Brave guy.
hephaestion
America and Germany need to put pressure on Russia to make its police protect gay people.
Deepdow
Wonderful. Russia is going through an extremely dark phase right now, some beams of light are needed.
giodude622
Man has got BALLS! I have complete respect & admiration for him! I too worry for his safety!,
barkomatic
I hope he gets out of Russia before thugs get to him. Either that, or I hope he is very well armed.
alterego1980
“The time has now come for me to be courageous. Our time has come.” …I’m afraid your time has yet to come. I worry for you and all the gays in Russia. The back-lash has been so brutal. You are courageous though and I applaud you.