{"id":227145,"date":"2022-07-19T16:24:31","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T20:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/?p=227145"},"modified":"2022-07-19T16:56:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T20:56:04","slug":"russia-tennis-star-comes-out-daria-kasatkina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/power\/russia-tennis-star-comes-out-daria-kasatkina-227145","title":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s top female tennis star comes out, criticizes anti-LGBTQ+ \u2018propaganda\u2019 ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"is-style-article-kik\">Despite the fraught political situation in Russia, <meta charset=\"utf-8\">Daria Kasatkina hopes other LGBTQ+ people will someday feel safe to come out<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Russia\u2019s top female tennis star came out in a YouTube video this week as the country\u2019s notoriously homophobic leaders prepare to crack down even further on LGBTQ+ life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 19, 25-year-old Daria Kasatkina discussed her sexual orientation openly for the first time in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bFNAndV99Rc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video interview with blogger Vitya Kravchenko<\/a>. Kasatkina, who identifies as a lesbian, revealed that she\u2019s currently dating 27-year-old figure skater Natalia Zabiiako, who was born in Estonia, but won a bronze medal as a member of the Russian Olympic team in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During an hour-long, sometimes emotional conversation, Kasatkina expressed that staying in the closet would have been \u201cpointless\u201d for her.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLiving in the closet is impossible,\u201d she said in comments translated by the Irish queer outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/gcn.ie\/top-russian-tennis-player-lesbian\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Gay Community News<\/em><\/a>. \u201cNot for the long run, no. It is too hard. You will be completely focused on that until you choose to come out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u041e\u0442\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0430 \u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u0439\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0441\u043f\u043e\u0440\u0442\u0430. \u0420\u0443\u0431\u043b\u0451\u0432 \u0438 \u041a\u0430\u0441\u0430\u0442\u043a\u0438\u043d\u0430 \/ Cancellation of Russian sports. Rublev and Kasatkina\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bFNAndV99Rc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Kasatkina, who is currently ranked no. 12 in the world and made the French Open semifinals earlier this year, is just the most recent Russian LGBTQ+ athlete to come out in recent months. Nadya Karpova, who has played with the Russian national team on more than a dozen occasions, came out as a lesbian while speaking out against the war in Ukraine during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/61681972\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BBC<\/a> interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Karpova currently plays professional soccer in Spain, where she said that she has felt more comfortable being herself. Russia has some of the world\u2019s most draconian laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community: in 2013, the country passed an anti-gay \u201cpropaganda\u201d ban preventing the spread of information on \u201cnon-traditional sexual relationships\u201d to minors. Last year, Russian lawmakers also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonblade.com\/2021\/04\/06\/putin-formally-bans-same-sex-marriages-in-russia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outlawed same-sex marriage<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.them.us\/story\/russia-outlaws-same-sex-marriage-bans-trans-adoption\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">banned trans adoptions<\/a> in a series of constitutional amendments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI stopped being afraid of certain things, for instance, to speak out,\u201d Karpova told the BBC. \u201cI also understood that no one would blame me for living with a girl, and that there is no stigma here for being a lesbian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kasatkina\u2014who also lives in Spain at the moment\u2014cited Karpova as a major inspiration in speaking about her sexual orientation publicly for the first time. The tennis star said that she was \u201chappy\u201d for Karpova, but was also glad for all the other girls who needed to see someone like her living their lives proudly and unapologetically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But when asked if Kasatkina would feel safe holding her girlfriend\u2019s hand publicly in Russia, she was doubtful that she and Karpova would ever be able to be out and visible in their home country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cJudging by how things are going there, it will never be okay,\u201d Kasatkina said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Kasatkina\u2019s coming-out interview was embraced by many fellow athletes, it\u2019s unclear how it will be received in Russia, which is pushing to intensify its anti-LGBTQ+ laws. This month, lawmakers in the State Duma\u2014the lower house of Russia\u2019s parliament\u2014proposed legislation that would expand the \u201cpropaganda\u201d ban to prevent all adults from accessing pro-LGBTQ+ materials. The legislation currently applies solely to people under the age of 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since it was enacted nine years ago, the law has been used to prevent virtually any form of LGBTQ+ organizing in Russia. The \u201cpropaganda\u201d ban has been used as a pretense to shut down Pride parades, arrest LGBTQ+ activists and fine people for posting links to pro-LGBTQ+ stories on Facebook. The harsh laws <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themoscowtimes.com\/2019\/09\/19\/we-tracked-your-social-media-youre-gay-russian-student-threatened-with-expulsion-a67349\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">even led a Russian university<\/a> to threaten a student with expulsion for having a pink phone case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ban has also led to a rise in extrajudicial violence against Russia\u2019s LGBTQ+ community. Hate crimes targeting queer and trans Russians doubled in the four years after the law was enacted, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-russia-lgbt-crime\/lgbt-hate-crimes-double-in-russia-after-ban-on-gay-propaganda-idUSKBN1DL2FM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Reuters<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-end\">Despite the fraught political situation in Russia, Kasatkina was hopeful that other LGBTQ+ people would someday be able to come out in a way that felt comfortable and affirming for them. \u201cOf course, it is up to you to decide how to do it, and how much you tell,\u201d she said. \u201cLiving in peace with yourself is the only thing that matters, and f**k everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite the fraught political situation in Russia, Daria Kasatkina hopes other LGBTQ+ people will someday feel safe to come out<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":227137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editorial_slug":"136","_editorial_slug":"136","exclude_from_latest_block":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"contributors":[838],"topic":[80,162,94,136],"clients":[],"series":[],"timeliness":[60],"editorial_format":[24],"type-of-work":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/835"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227145"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227155,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227145\/revisions\/227155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227145"},{"taxonomy":"contributors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributors?post=227145"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=227145"},{"taxonomy":"clients","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/clients?post=227145"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=227145"},{"taxonomy":"timeliness","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/timeliness?post=227145"},{"taxonomy":"editorial_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial_format?post=227145"},{"taxonomy":"type-of-work","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type-of-work?post=227145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}