ABSTRACT

The aim of the introduction to this edited volume is to show how homosexuality has been constructed and reconstructed in the Soviet Union and in the states of the former USSR in a bid to provide the historical, social and political context for the chapters that follow. The first part analyses the impact of the Bolshevik revolution on non-normative sexualities in the USSR and how the legal situation for gay men and attitudes towards non-homosexuals in general became more negative as the Party’s priorities changed. The second part looks at the situation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people following the collapse of the USSR in 1991. It identifies general social and political trends which have shaped attitudes towards non-normative sexualities throughout the post-Soviet space, while paying particular attention to developments in Russia.