Gay Rights: A Letter From A Gay Chechen Man
The holidays are a time of giving and good cheer, and thanks to all of you generous readers of the Adam4Adam blog, we’ve made the holidays doubly meaningful for one of the gay men who’ve escaped the gay purge in Chechnya.
Back in April of this year, you guys were able to $4,885 for our Chechen LGBT campaign. Adam4Adam added $10,115 more, bringing the total to $15,000. The money was then handed over to Rainbow Railroad, a non-profit organization in Canada working hand-in-hand with the Russian LGBT network to get gay Chechen men to safety.
One of the men the Adam4Adam community has helped out is Hamzat. Thanks to the Rainbow Railroad, we’ve gotten an update on Hamzat and his journey to Canada. Here is his letter to me, in full:
“Dear David,
I am writing today having finally found a home and settling into my life in Canada. I write today to thank you for saving my life.
Six months ago, my life was very different.
It was a regular work day and suddenly military men rushed into my work searching for me. They had found me.
I remember their hands at my throat, handcuffs, the trunk of a car – my life flashed before my eyes. The car stopped and I awaited death. I experienced kicks, the hose, and the electric current. They put a bag over my head, a gun to my forehead, and they told me that these were my last seconds on earth. And I believed them.
This was the first of many days not knowing if I would survive.
They never used their hands because it would be disgusting to touch me. After, I was thrown into a cell where there were others like me, and the humiliation continued.
I was stripped. The hunger, cold, sleepless nights. Beyond the walls, I heard the screams of others, like me, being tortured. I recognized their voices and every tortured cry.
We were paraded out in a row, displayed – they said that we couldn’t exist. Then, we were outed to our families, told we were a great shame, and it would have been better if we had died at birth.
I thought I was going to die.
I escaped from my family to a another city, to gather myself. I found on the internet that there were organizations helping people such as myself. One of them was the Russian LGBT Network. The other was Rainbow Railroad. They helped me.
I want to thank everyone who did not remain indifferent to the plight faced by Chechen gays. I say, Chechen gays, with a sigh of relief because we exist, we are healthy and alive, and I’m one of them!
Yes, there have been some difficulties – in moving, not knowing English, searching for housing, but all of this does not compare with the gained internal strength and belief in myself and that I can do anything and become everything I want. I want to thank everyone because the person writing to you today, who wanted to die in that cold cell, now wants to live with faith in love.
Thank you for this chance for a new life.”
It’s a truly heartwarming update, and we want to thank everyone here in the Adam4Adam community who pitched in and helped our Chechen brothers during their time of need. Truly, this is the best gift that we could have given them.
Merry Christmas to all of us!
Heart warming but heart breaking knowing that it’s still happening ….
Wait’ll Pence takes over when Fatboy gets the boot…the church nutters will come after YOU…HERE.
OMG REALLY!??? Those bastards are one of the most hypocritically gayest bastards on the face of the earth to do that to another human being just for being gay etc, etc. The way I see it, anyone is entitled to like or dislike a sexually that they are not comfortable in doing or value, but any man that takes that much interests to go as far as to torture or murder someone for his or her sexually has 9 times out of 10 did homosexual sex as well or had homosexual tendencies too. A man who has a phobia being in closed spaces isn’t going to tear every wall around him just because he fear enclosed spaces for that would be ridiculous so why would a guy who has a phobia around gays goes through all that trouble trying to scare someone straight if they do not ever have to have sex with a guy and could simply live his own life without worring about how others live theirs? Phobia means fear and gay means homosexual male if you’re a homophobic man, what’s to fear besides fear of becoming one of them yourself? If you fear that they are out to change you in some way, you are already gay yourself for even thinking that way. No one can change you BUT yourself. If you throw stones make sure you are not doing the SAME THING YOU ARE ACCUSING SOMEONE ELSE FOR DOING!!!
…Not to mention, this kind of hate/fear, probably has alot to do with ‘religion’ at the heart of it. Which means, their actions taking upon themselves to carry out some sort of sick-twisted punishment for what they see as a “sin against “God.” When we all know, it hasn’t one single thing to do with “God” but rather, their own brand of hate.
“…this kind of hate/fear, probably has alot to do with ‘religion’…”
There is a lot of hate and fear.
After the Pope recently challenged Catholics over their treatment of LGTBQs, a Priest in the US announced that he was gay. He said he needed to be honest in order to best serve people. To date, he has received no negative response from the US Catholic Church or the Vatican.
Many Christian denominations openly accept LGTBQs as members. Many have lesbian and gay Pastors. Judaism has also taken a new, different, and positive look at LGTBQs. They do this because they, too, are driven by God.
The hate and fear comes really hits home when militant gays broadly attack people who are religious, forgetting that many LGTBQs are religious themselves.