A gay Russian man, who has blue hair, was brutally attacked outside a grocery store for looking like a ‘fag’.
Ivan Kravistin, 26, from the city of Syzran – around 600 miles east of Moscow, had gone to his local supermarket at around 24 February.
A large muscled man blocked Kravistin’s exist, before asking whether he was a ‘fag’ as he had painted his nails and dyed his hair.
After asking homophobic questions, he began to punch Kravistin in the eye, face and body. The 26-year-old was left in a bloody mess as he was attacked.
One bystander tried to intervene, telling the homophobic attacker that while he, too, did not like gay people, he did not believe in beating them up.
Police were called and the man was arrested for a ‘hooliganism’ charge.
Kravistin was taken to hospital where it was found he had suffered a concussion. He was allowed to leave and recuperate at home.
Posting the images of his injuries on social media, many told him if he dyed his hair a normal color and he should keep closeted for his own safety.
He doesn’t agree.
‘According to some, I need to stop talking about gay rights and to accept the reality that in Syzran and Russia that all gays will never be accepted as the norm,’ he wrote on his VK page. ‘Live as yourself behind closed doors with a boyfriend, and everything will be alright. If I wasn’t “searching for trouble”, my life would be a fairy tale.
‘That “happily ever after” is a lie. If you submit to homophobes, if you submit to the closet, you’re not living your best possible life. While I might have a broken face, you have a broken life.
‘If my choice is between living my life then dying suddenly or a slow, painful, closeted life – I choose the first. Say whatever you think about homosexuality, I do not deserve this. No one deserves this. I’m not going to let this force me back into the closet, this is the reason why I came out in the first place: people need to know we exist.’
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