Yes

So Dan Healey’s book Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia mentions Peter The Great’s criminalization, although the book is more about the 20th century. The exact citation he uses is this:

Laura Engelstein, The Keys to Happiness: Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-Sie`cle Russia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992), 58. On the “military revolution,” see Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution: Military innovation and the rise of the West, 1500–1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988); in the Russian context, see Richard Hellie, “The Petrine Army: Continuity, Change and Impact,” Canadian-American Slavic Studies 8, no. 2 (1974): 237–53. The impact of recruitment and disciplinary practices inspired by the military revolution on the emergence of a modern homosexual identity deserves a study in itself.

He also mentions Nicholas I as well: “Extending this regulation to the civilian male population in 1835, Nicholas I sought to instill those religious sensibilities and civic virtues that Russian males apparently still lacked.”

Here is the citation for that:

In this sense, state regulation preceded the internalization of modern forms of morality, see Kon, “Istoricheskie sud’by russkogo Erosa,” 6. The history of these regulations is discussed in chapter 3.

While I do not like Wikipedia, it does cite a few figures who visited Muscovite Russia and journaled about the homosexuality on display, just scroll down to the specific tab: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_history_in_Russia

Here is an insider article about it too: https://theins.ru/en/society/259640

Remember that I did put positive is quotations because, obviously, it wasn’t a daily pride parade but it was also not nightmarish either. It’s just interesting how things developed. This is one of the big reasons why I want to study there for my PhD!

Homophobia in Russia is so odd because, historically, Russia was actually one of the more “positive” countries when it came to queerness. It was actually when Russia tried to integrate itself closer to Europe where things started to take a turn. It began with banning homosexuality in the military under Peter the Great and just spread from there. LGBT stuff is now seen as a Western import, but if anything homophobia was the import. Isn’t that weird? Anyway, Russia is a very interesting place.

Perestroika, not even once.

The way I would’ve kept my mouth shut and just took so many screenshots and recordings. But he’s not me.

Didn’t he also voluntarily leave said chat as well?

The age discrepancy is a bit annoying. In that the younger people (around my age) prefer a “Western model” (if the translation is correct in the second article). But that Western model is trying to subjugate them, I do wonder where this perspective comes from. Maybe the current government is just not doing enough to court the younger generations, maybe it also has to do with the education system (depends on how the curriculum is created and taught) and interactions with the west (social media, NGOs, etc.). I am genuinely curious, I know Russia is definitely not a perfect country nor is it socialist, but I have to wonder where this perspective from younger people comes from.

I wonder what he’s up to now… I hope he’s doing well!