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"where love is illegal"

Grisha Zaritovsky, St. Petersburg, Russia. Nov. 12, 2014. 32-year-old Grisha Zaritovsky dressed in his drag queen performance attire. Until 2011 Zaritovsky worked as an after school theatre teacher. Away from work he was involved in LGBT activism although few people at his work knew of his sexuality or activism. In October 2011 he was involved in a protest against the proposed law banning 'propaganda' for 'non-traditional sexual relationships'. He was arrested with one other activist. The police leaked his arrest to the media which was then reported on Russian news websites and was seen by his boss and three weeks later his boss asked him to come into the office to discuss the arrest. He was asked to leave the school. He agreed, he says, as some of his colleagues there were gay and he thought if he fought the decision they could also get dragged into the issue. Grisha regrets now not fighting harder to keep his job.