We Will Become Better: A Campaign Against Russia’s Homophobia

Two lovers in Russia dance with each other, but separately in distant apartments. Their bodies’ movements match, yet fear of persecution divides them.We Will Become Better, a beautiful, choreographed, six-minute film, is part of the first Russian anti-homophobic awareness campaign. The Russian LGBT Network, a human rights organization that put it on, challenges mainstream attitudes biases against queer people.

This film captures the forbidden love and desires that the LGBTQ community in Russia face daily.

The split-screen imagery portrays the relationship’s ups and downs. Certainly, widespread emotions, from passion to disappointment, dominate the dance. They fear coming out due to outside hostility toward the queer community.

“These are two people that love each other and want to be together, but forbid themselves because of societal judgment, because of certain walls that are created around that relationship, and so unfortunately, it cannot happen,” explains writer Evgeny Primachenko.

Russia’s hostile legislation

In 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin banned same-gender marriage.

When Russia banned “gay propaganda” in 2013, hate crimes against LGBTQ people doubled in five years. The ban’s was to “protect” children from exposure to homosexuality.

Since 2017, journalists began reporting on”anti-gay purges” in Chechnya. During these “purges,” LGBTQ  people are detained, raped, tortured, imprisoned, and sometimes killed.

Seventy-seven percent of the Russian population supported the same-gender marriage ban.

One explanation for this support is due to state-endorsed, anti-gay advertisements.

This was Primachenko’s limit. It presents “the community in an incredibly clichéd, offensive way—in an extremely negative light,” says the writer.

With almost 228,000 views on YouTube, everyone involved in the film faces real threats. They knowingly put themselves at great risk against the Russian government.

Primachenko believes that by promoting LGBTQ rights, more support will grow for the community. “I am 100 percent confident that things are going to get better,” he says.

Find more statistics at Statista.