Interviews with Olim

Q. Where were you born and where did you grow up?

A. I was born in a small town in Russia near the Volga River, and I spent most of my childhood in a very rural Ural village in the mountains.

Q. At what age did you come out? And how did it go? 

A. I knew I was some kind of queer since I was 12, but there was practically no information, no representation, no role models, nothing. I found out about same-sex relationships only because one day I saw a music video on TV – it was absolutely scandalous even back then. There was a band called Night Snipers – their lead singer was and still is a woman called Diana Arbenina, and they have a song called She gave me the roses. This was practically my entire gay awakening.

Q. Were you involved at all in the LGBT community back home?

A. I mean, yes and no. I wanted to be there, I was practically starving for a community of my own, but our only community place was searched by the police almost weekly. It was insane.

Q. What is your involvement (if any) in the LGBT community in Israel?

A. I’m trying to be there as much as I can: learning, listening, protesting. But I’m still trying to integrate in general.

Q. How long since you made Aliyah?

A. I made an Aliyah a year ago. Two, if you count MASA before it.

Q. Did you move here on your own or with family/friends/significant other?

A. I moved on my own with one suitcase and didn’t regret it for a second.

Q. Why did you make Aliyah?

A. I mean, apart from the fact that I’m a lesbian from Russia? I’m a Jew and a pretty religious one. Our connection to the Holy Land is important to me.

Q. How is it going so far?

A. Great, and hard, and fascinating, and hard again, but it is so rewarding.

Q. What do you do in terms of work?

A. Could be better. Could be worse though! I’m just switching part-time jobs while trying to get some new skills and so on. Writing some pieces here and there, trying to find my place as a writer and designer. It’s gonna be good.

Q. How is your Ivrit?

A. This definitely could be better. But I mean, it’s a work in progress.

Q. What has been your biggest challenge so far?

A. Definitely the bureaucracy. It’s everywhere, and trying to navigate in my second and third languages is almost funny sometimes. I mean, two weeks after I got my ID, I was already forced to go to Mas Hachnasa to get some paperwork for a freelance job I did. How ridiculous is that?

Q. How do you perceive the Israeli LGBT community?

A. An insanely brave people. Brave, vibrant and free. If you’re queer from Eastern Europe, you practically breathe with fear, It’s in your nerves. It’s in your skin. I’m so used to fear and hiding, I didn’t even notice it anymore most of the time. But there are people who’ve never been traumatized like I am, and it’s kinda heartbreaking, but so cathartic.

Q. How is being LGBT in Israel different to back home?

A. Haha, that’s a funny one, especially right now. You can go to jail for a rainbow pin. And trying to organize a Gay Pride March? Absolutely unthinkable! People were sentenced for lesser crimes. On my first Pride here I practically cried all the time, just because for the first time in my life I was experiencing freedom.

Q. If you were making aliyah now, would you do anything differently?

A. I’m just regretting not doing it much sooner. Much, much sooner. I’m 31. How different and easier my integration could be, if I had come here 10 years ago? Oh, I wish I could see it.