ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the scholarship on Russian-speaking LGBTQ communities in the three largest post-Soviet diasporas: the USA, Israel, and Germany. Although there have been important analyses of how the post-Soviet opening of borders led to increases in labor and marriage migration, there has been relatively little work on new possibilities for LGBTQ migrants. LGBTQ migrants have tried a variety of tactics to negotiate their sexuality and post-Soviet cultural heritage, with those in the 1990s USA unable to come out as queer in the diaspora and those in Israel distancing themselves from the Russian identity. Based on more recent studies conducted in Berlin and New York City, LGBTQ status has become a factor driving migration. Those in Berlin immigrated to escape heteronormativity in post-Soviet societies, and those in New York City become politicized as their asylum status depends on their lived experience as LGBTQ. In the latter case, the phenomenon is gendered: lesbian and bisexual women are under-represented, perhaps because, as women, they have fewer resources for immigration and are more socialized to stay connected to their families. Moreover, since asylum adjudicators tend to privilege visible homophobic violence, more often experienced by gay men in post-Soviet societies, women seem less likely to obtain asylum.
