Yelena Goltsman immigrated from Soviet Ukraine in 1989, and says it did not take too lengthy for her to comprehend that as a homosexual lady, she wanted steerage navigating her new residence.
“I did not have any assist system. I did not know the place to go. I did not know tips on how to begin my life right here as a lesbian lady,” Goltsman stated.
The start of Qaravan
That is why she based Qaravan 18 years in the past. The nonprofit group, initially often called RUSA LGBTQ+, works to serve Queer Eurasian immigrants, a lot of whom have fled jarring persecution of their residence nations.
“Beatings, threats, horrible issues,” Goltsman stated, referring to the difficulties endured by many who search assist. “Individuals do not go away their nations, do not run away from their nations, if every little thing is OK. There must be a sure threshold of ache and struggling for them to go away.”
Qaravan hosts an annual satisfaction march alongside the Brighton Seaside, Brooklyn boardwalk. And with a latest inflow of individuals fleeing warfare from Ukraine and Russia, the group has ramped up other efforts.
The nonprofit holds authorized seminars, connects immigrants to well being care, and companions with different organizations that assist with issues like work authorization and furnishing residences.
“In our nations, we do not have something like this,” Stanislav Shchedrinskyi stated, including volunteers who do that work evoke emotions of gratitude and respect.
Many share Goltsman’s story
Shchedrinskyi moved to New York when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
In an interview translated from Russian, he shared that he often confronted hostility in his hometown in Jap Ukraine as a result of his sexuality.
“The best way you are dressed, for instance. In the event you’re dressed too brightly, you possibly can hear somebody use a homophobic slur,” he stated.
For one more man, who requested to stay nameless, it was a harmful escalation of such hostility that pressured him to hunt refuge in America.
He fled Yoshkar-Ola, Russia in early 2023, describing a pointy uptick in homophobia. Threats from former shoppers and work colleagues left him fearing for his life. Quickly after, a Russian court docket formally labeled the LGBT movement an “extremist organization.”
“They began writing that I am homosexual in our work chats, launched my deal with and passwords, started threatening that they’d burn down my residence,” he stated in Russian.
Each immigrants settled in Brooklyn, the place there’s a big present group of Russian audio system from the previous Soviet Union.
“I’ve fixed nightmares”
Qaravan additionally boasts a peer mentorship “buddy” program referred to as Rainbow Join, fostering friendships between the native LGBTQ group and new immigrants hoping to seek out their footing.
“Individuals can speak about tips on how to use the subway. Individuals can speak about tips on how to open a checking account, tips on how to discover the correct physician,” Goltsman stated.
For the nameless man who escaped from Russia, this assist adjusting to a brand new life in a brand new nation can convey a way of safety and residential.
“I’ve fixed nightmares that I return there and might’t come again to America,” he stated, including that waking up in Brooklyn nonetheless seems like a sort of private freedom.
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