Nonprofit Qaravan is helping LGBTQ immigrants fleeing persecution and war

Unique organization works to help immigrants fleeing homophobia in former Soviet countries
Unique organization works to help immigrants fleeing homophobia in former Soviet countries
Unique organization works to help immigrants fleeing homophobia in former Soviet countries
Yelena Goltsman immigrated from Soviet Ukraine in 1989, and says it didn't take too long for her to realize that as a gay woman, she needed guidance navigating her new home.
"I didn't have any support system. I didn't know where to go. I didn't know how to start my life here as a lesbian woman," Goltsman said.
The birth of Qaravan
That's why she founded Qaravan 18 years ago. The nonprofit organization, originally known as RUSA LGBTQ+, works to serve Queer Eurasian immigrants, many of whom have fled jarring persecution in their home countries.
"Beatings, threats, terrible things," Goltsman said, referring to the difficulties endured by many who seek help. "People don't leave their countries, don't run away from their countries, if everything is OK. There has to be a certain threshold of pain and suffering for them to leave."
Qaravan hosts an annual pride march along the Brighton Beach, Brooklyn boardwalk. And with a recent influx of people fleeing war from Ukraine and Russia, the organization has ramped up other efforts.
The nonprofit holds legal seminars, connects immigrants to health care, and partners with other organizations that help with things like work authorization and furnishing apartments.
"In our countries, we don't have anything like this," Stanislav Shchedrinskyi said, adding volunteers who do this work evoke feelings of gratitude and respect.
Many share Goltsman's story
Shchedrinskyi moved to New York when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
In an interview translated from Russian, he shared that he frequently faced hostility in his hometown in Eastern Ukraine due to his sexuality.
"The way you're dressed, for example. If you're dressed too brightly, you can hear someone use a homophobic slur," he said.
For another man, who requested to remain anonymous, it was a dangerous escalation of such hostility that forced him to seek refuge in America.
He fled Yoshkar-Ola, Russia in early 2023, describing a sharp uptick in homophobia. Threats from former clients and work colleagues left him fearing for his life. Soon after, a Russian court officially labeled the LGBT movement an "extremist organization."
"They started writing that I'm gay in our work chats, released my address and passwords, began threatening that they would burn down my apartment," he said in Russian.
Both immigrants settled in Brooklyn, where there's a large existing community of Russian speakers from the former Soviet Union.
"I have constant nightmares"
Qaravan also boasts a peer mentorship "buddy" program called Rainbow Connect, fostering friendships between the local LGBTQ community and new immigrants hoping to find their footing.
"People can talk about how to use the subway. People can talk about how to open a bank account, how to find the right doctor," Goltsman said.
For the anonymous man who escaped from Russia, this help adjusting to a new life in a new country can bring a sense of security and home.
"I have constant nightmares that I return there and can't come back to America," he said, adding that waking up in Brooklyn still feels like a kind of personal freedom.
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