ABSTRACT
A market economy was declared to exist and encouraged to grow in most of the new countries by their post-Soviet and often popularly-elected leaders—even by those who had been government officials and Communist Party stalwarts only a few months earlier. Gay men and lesbians in the former Soviet Union need to wage battle not for national sovereignty but for personal autonomy—that is, not to distinguish themselves from others, but to liken themselves to all people in their society. Community is not something that can be presented to a people full-blown, as a matter of historical fact. Community must develop among them out of interacting in such a way as to construct group-level social institutions. While the idea of gay community has gained currency among homosexuals in post-Soviet society, there is a long way yet to go before there will be enough momentum generated to launch a successful movement or to create solid gay and lesbian community institutions.
