Scores of Russian gays are seeking asylum in U.S.

NEW YORK — Had he stayed in Russia, Andrew Mironov would be settling in to a stable job with an oil company, likely with a newly awarded doctoral degree in electrical engineering.

Instead, he faces an uncertain future in New York City as one of scores of Russian gays seeking asylum in the United States because of hostility and harassment in their homeland.

“In Russia, I would have gotten my Ph.D. this fall, had a job and health insurance,” said Mironov, 25. “Now, here, I’m nobody.”

Yet the sacrifices have been worth it, Mironov says, given the fears that lingered after he was severely beaten by several assailants in the lobby of a gay bar in his home city of Samara.

“Which is more important, happiness or success?” he asked over coffee in midtown Manhattan. “I would say happiness. I feel no fear here.”

There are no firm statistics on the number of gay Russian asylum seekers; U.S. government agencies that handle applications do not report such details. However, the Department of Homeland Security’s latest figures show that overall applications for asylum by Russians totaled 969 in the 2014 fiscal year, up 34 percent from 2012.

The increase is due in part to the worsening anti-gay climate in Russia, according to Immigration Equality, a New York-based organization which provides legal services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender immigrants.

The organization says the number of inquiries it received from gay Russians seeking U.S. asylum has risen from 68 in 2012 to 127 in 2013 and 161 through Oct. 30 of this year.

During that period, gayrights gatherings in Russia were frequently targeted by assailants, and the parliament passed a law targeting “gay propaganda” that was widely viewed as a means of deter- ring gay activism.

Said Mironov of that law, “It helped homophobic people feel the government is on their side.”

To get an application approved, an asylum seeker must present a convincing case that he or she has a “well-founded fear of persecution” in their home country.

Russia’s anti-gay policies and its record of anti-gay violence are factors that could strengthen an individual’s case.