Dan Healey's expert analysis of homophobia's history in Russia uses riveting case studies of lesbian and gay life and the law to paint a vivid picture of queerness and its persecution from the 1930s through to the Putin era. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the uphill battle for LGBTQ rights and recognition in contemporary Russia.
Valerie Sperling, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, Clark University, USA
In this meticulously researched and highly readable book, Healey draws on a lifetime of ground-breaking research on homosexuality in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia to trace the roots of Russia's antipathy towards sexual deviance from the anti-homosexual politics of Stalin to the politicisation of homophobia and 'gay propaganda' under Vladimir Putin. A fascinating insight into sexual politics in Russia.
Richard Mole, Senior Lecturer in Political Sociology, University College London, UK