Victoria Bakshina að sjá Úkraínu í öllum hinsegin litum. Og við erum nú þegar á leiðinni til að byggja upp þetta samfélag: fyrir stríðinu blómstraði hinsegin líf, við eigum líka fullt af tónlistarmönnum sem eru kynlausir og styðja hinsegin fólk opinberlega. Allt það stuðlar að sýnileika hinsegin fólks. Skopmyndin af hinsegin fólki eins Boris Moiseev 1) er farin. Þess í stað birtist flókin og blæbrigðaríkari mannleg útgáfa af því. Hómófóbía og fordómar eru auðvitað enn til staðar, margir eru enn á móti LGBTQIA+ "dagskránni" í stjórnmálum. En ég held að Zelensky geti tekist á við það. En hinsegin fólk Í Úkraínu ætti ekki að slaka á og gera ekki neitt, þau ættu að endurmóta sig og berjast við innri og ytri hómófóbíu. Þannig græða allir. Sergej was born in Mariupol, Ukraine, and has lived in Iceland since 2010. Victoria Bakshina: We both come from Slavic countries, where the attitude towards non-heteronormative relationships and the LGBTQ community is hostile. So, I would like to ask: when have you realized that you are a part of this community and how did others react to this? Sergej Kjartan Artamonov: There was no clear realization of it as such. When I was younger, I was interested in girls, and I even went on dates with them. But I was interested in guys , too. At a certain point in the pre-Internet era, I found cards with pornographic images, and that was quite a shock, I spent a while under my blanket looking at them. A couple of months before turning 18 I took a bold step: had my first date with a guy offline. I was so nervous, running around trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. I had to transfer all my heteronormative experience onto a non-heteronormative ground. My first experience was bad, even abusive to a certain extent. I went to a party, I was not attracted to a guy,
but felt guilty to refuse him. But with the second one I fell in love. That is how it all started. As far as the reaction from others is concerned, I have always been the one that is never at a loss for words, I knew how to create healthy personal boundaries and I have been socially active. However, one day in a computer class at the university a girl walked in, greeted me, and called me a wrong name. I realized: I had a profile on one of the dating sites with that name. I had a problem with that girl for a long time for exposing me. It is water under the bridge now, but that is how the homophobia started for me. Of course, looking at it now, in 2022, I understand that this girl might have been my savior because I would have remained working at the university, would have been a subject of constant gossiping and would have been drafted to defend the borders of Ukraine. Thankfully, I stopped thinking of a university career as my priority and moved on with my life. VB: And what about your parents? SKA: That is quite funny. With my dad we have a very typical post-perestroika non-aligned relationship, and I have not had a well-developed relationship with my mum either: I was with her until the age of 6-7, then I went to school and my grandmother and great-grandmother supervised my extracurricular activities. But they are from a different world. That is why I have the mentality of an early era Queen Elizabeth, as my husband jokes. My mum told me that I liked to dress up like Verka Serduchka 2) ,I did a good impersonation of them, until one day a neighbor, who happened to belong to a Baptist church, came and said that boys were not supposed to dress like girls. This old bat almost exposed me!
VB: So, the whole family did not suspect anything? SKA: They were saying: ah, he is an artist, that is his creative outlet. Then when I came to Iceland, where all types of gay people existed, they immediately told me: relax, we will help you adapt. They knew the minute I entered the room. They told me to forget all the nonsense about my sexuality and just be myself. Without labels. But my mum still would not clock me. She thought that my university friend was my girlfriend. And I did not try to prove her wrong. I had to be careful. I have thick skin, and no one has ever said anything offensive to my face, but I also know of more sensitive people that were driven to the edge by it. When I got married to my husband, she did not take it seriously, would just say something like: stop it with your jokes, you are not being funny. When we showed her our matching rings, she thought it was a prank and called us clowns. When I evacuated her from Ukraine to Italy during the war, she got to experience a different reality, things have slightly changed. She started sending greetings to my husband more often. But she is a calm and stubborn, even phlegmatic woman. So, I expect a few more coming-outs with her. VB: You came to Iceland in 2010. What was your first impression like? SKA: It is like being on a gay cruise ship. You just come as you are, and everyone is fine with it. Iceland and my hometown Mariupol are like heaven and earth. The political system with multiple decision centers, Jón Gnarr, the Pirate Party, a lesbian Prime Minister – all of it was new and exciting. I saw the pride flags on state buildings and businesses! The Peace Tower! The technological advancement of
1) S ovéskur, hvít-rússneskur og rússneskur söngvari, einn af fyrstu opinberlega samkynhneigðu listamönnum, mjög Liberace-líkur. 2)
A famous Ukrainian drag persona of Andriy Danylko, a singer, actor, and a comedian
