readers and writers for lgbt chechens

FAQ on Russian LGBT Network and gays in Chechnya

rainbow flag—photo by Benson Kua

This FAQ is a revised version of a post I wrote in April about the persecution and killing of gay men in Chechnya and efforts to help them. A message I received today reminded me that there’s still a lot of education to be done. The message was along the lines of “Russia is full of hackers and scammers, so we can’t trust things based in Russia. Therefore Westerners should only support Western charities.” If everyone followed that reasoning, we’d have 40 more dead gay Chechens on our hands right now.
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Guest Author: Proceeds from Jo Tannah’s The Way You Look Tonight help gay Chechens

I was thrilled when Jo Tannah told me last month that she wanted to participate in Books Save Lives with two titles — including one that she’d previously published with Wayward Ink, The Way You Look Tonight. Books Save Lives is a project of Readers & Writers for LGBT Chechens that raises funds for the Russian LGBT Network and other charities helping gay men escape Chechnya, where police are currently conducting a campaign of terror against anyone they suspect of being gay. Here’s an interview I did with Jo last February when The Way You Look Tonight first came out. …Read more

Book Review: Falling for a Pirate by Meredith Bond | Proceeds help gay Chechens

“How can I be more kind?” It’s a question at the heart of the poetry of Hafez, a Sufi mystic often quoted by pirate captain Salim al-Mandri, the beloved in this time-travel romance. And it becomes a crucial question for our hero Dylan, who’s not sure how to square his affection for Salim with his revulsion for violence. Falling for a Pirate by Meredith Bond is an adventurous romance with a philosophical soul.
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