Red Closet by Rustam Alexander

Red Closet - The Hidden History of Gay Oppression in the USSR
 
IA poignant and deeply researched history of gay oppression in the USSR.  In 1934, Joseph Stalin enacted sodomy laws, unleashing a wave of brutal detentions of homosexual men in large Soviet cities. Red closet recounts the compelling stories of people whose lives were affected by those laws, including a naïve Scottish journalist who dared to write to Stalin in an attempt to save his lover from prosecution and a homosexual theatre student who came to Moscow in pursuit of a career amid Stalin’s harsh repressions and mass arrests.
We also meet a fearless doctor in Siberia who provided medical treatment for gay men at his own peril and a much-loved Soviet singer who hid his homosexuality from the secret police. Each story helps paint the hitherto unknown picture of how Soviet oppression of gay people originated and was perpetuated from Stalin’s rule until the demise of the USSR.
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'Alexander has done a superb job of telling the history of homosexuality in Russia since the Revolution, and his book deserves to be widely read.'
Dennis Altman, author of Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation and Global Sex 
'At a time when President Putin's regime is viciously repressing Russia's LGBTQ community and criminalizing anyone who speaks up about lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans lives, the appearance of this book is an important act of resistance. Red Closet brings to life stories of gay oppression in the Soviet Union and traces some of the roots of contemporary Russia's homophobia.'
Dan Healey, author of Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi