In a series of portraits taken at the end of last September, Rome-based photographer Davide Monteleone sought to convey a simple message about gay couples living in Russia.“The whole idea was about love,” he said, “and the connection between couples. You want to stay together, that’s it. And it doesn’t matter what their religion or sexual orientation is."
In a series of portraits taken at the end of last September, Rome-based photographer Davide Monteleone sought to convey a simple message about gay couples living in Russia.
“The whole idea was about love,” he said, “and the connection between couples. You want to stay together, that’s it. And it doesn’t matter what their religion or sexual orientation is.”
Over the last 10 years, a combination of personal and professional opportunities have repeatedly pulled Monteleone to the country now set to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Rather than focusing his lens on the highly anticipated sporting event, however, Monteleone wanted to showcase families facing persecution under a series of controversial anti-gay measures.
One of those families belongs to LGBT activist Masha Gessen, a close friend of Monteleone and the author of two books–The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin and Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot. Gessen and her spouse, Darya Oreshkina, moved with their children to New York last month, out of fear of legislation that could strip LGBT parents of their custody rights. The bill was briefly introduced last fall, then withdrawn from the State Duma for revisions. It could be reintroduced and passed as early as this year.
Other anti-gay measures in Russia include a law banning the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relationships among minors, a law that classifies “homosexual propaganda” as pornography, and a law that prohibits the adoption of Russian-born children by gay couples or by individuals living in countries that allow gay couples to marry.
Monteleone mostly stuck to photographing friends or acquaintances, as many gay couples were afraid of publicizing their relationships under these restrictions.
“I would never have expected an anti-gay law at this point, when all the world is going in another direction,” said Monteleone, who has no plans of trying to show the photographs in Russia.
“It’s not really that I want to say something to the Russian government,” he said. “They wouldn’t listen anyway.”
