Podcast 'Queer Talks'

In a new podcast, Konstantin Kropotkin talks with queer refugees from the former Soviet Union.

The Podcast “Queer Talks” with Konstantin Kropotkin

Duration: January 2022 to December 2022.

Funding: Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation (Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld).

Project Goals:

In his new podcast, Konstantin Kropotkin speaks with queer refugees from the former Soviet Union. Who are they? Where do they come from? Why did they leave their homeland? Have they found in Germany what they were looking for? This is an attempt to understand the phenomenon of LGBTQ* migration through the perspective of personal documentary narratives.

Objectives:

A detailed Russian-language presentation of the sociocultural phenomenon of queer refugees, using LGBTQ* migrants in Germany as an example.
Expanding the general understanding of gender, gender identity, and gender politics in the Russian-speaking discourse.
Introducing various life models for the Russian-speaking LGBTQ* community.
Attempting to break stereotypes about “masculine” and “feminine” that prevail among Russian-speaking immigrants in Germany.
Highlighting the dangers of double stigmatization that every queer refugee faces.

Public Significance of the Project:

In recent years, LGBTQ* organizations in Germany have observed an increase in the number of queer migrants from the former Soviet Union. This is due to state-sponsored discrimination against this group in their home countries (where homophobic laws often exist, and hate crimes go unpunished).

Furthermore, the Russian-speaking population in Germany, which includes around three million people, often holds hostile attitudes toward LGBTQ* individuals. According to data published by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in January 2021, 45% of Russian-speaking immigrants in Germany oppose same-sex marriage, as do 46% of ethnic German immigrants. Additionally, 100% of religious Russian-speaking migrants from the former Soviet Union consider such marriages unacceptable.

Results:

32 portraits of queer refugees from the former Soviet Union who have arrived in Germany over the past 20 years, recorded in Russian. Two seasons of the podcast: from February to the end of May and from September to December (16 episodes in each season), each episode lasting about 40 minutes.
Text versions of each episode.

Listen to the “Queer Talks” podcast