By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 10 years ago

Photo(s) of the Day: Gay activists in Russia

Head over to Mother Jones to check out these photos of gay activists in Russia by Danish photographer Mads Nissen.

Ilmira Shayhraznova and Elena Yakovleva

Photo credit: Mads Nissen

Here’s Ilmira Shayhraznova and Elena Yakovleva, who, along with four other gay couples, attempted to file marriage applications at the St. Petersburg municipal office to protest the country’s “gay propaganda” law. Since the law was passed last summer, there’s been an uptick in anti-gay violence, but–no doubt aided by the increased scrutiny thanks to the Sochi Olympics–the activists also say it’s helped the cause. “Before, it wasn’t accepted to talk about this,” activist Yana Petrova said. “Now, there are no neutral people left. Everyone wants to express their opinion. That’s good. Debate is the only thing that can lead to any battle or change.”

Maya DusenberyMaya Dusenbery is an Executive Director of Feministing.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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