The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia

by Masha Gessen

“Are you aware that homosexuality is a taboo topic in our country?” asked one. “But it exists,” responded Lyosha. This was the only question that concerned Lyosha’s actual topic. A lone committee member, whom Lyosha thought to be a closeted gay man, made a helpful suggestion on sources. The rest were anxious free-association queries. Members of the committee sounded angry with Lyosha, so angry that they could not or would not bring themselves to engage with his work. Their comments showed that they did not think a study like this should exist. “I just attended a conference in St. Petersburg where they said that gender was no more,” said one. “What are ‘minority groups’ anyway?” asked another. Lyosha sweated and used every trick he could think of to keep his rage from showing. A few weeks later, he heard that the professor who had been helpful during the defense had been seen waving a copy of Lyosha’s dissertation summary booklet during his own seminar, shouting in outrage, “This is ideological propaganda! This is propaganda of sodomy!” Lyosha was almost shocked a few weeks later to learn that the committee had cleared him for his defense. The defense was, by all accounts, brilliant. The vote was unanimous.