While I was waiting for a response from the activists and journalists connected to the queer community in KGZ, I tried to find a queer bar to go to. But the only information I could find was about the rampant homophobia in the region, or else articles about the only gay bar in Bishkek getting shut down three years ago. I was a little surprised and disappointed—I had thought there would at least be some online forums about queer hang outs in Bishkek. In other cities I’d visited, especially in China, there was always at least one TripAdvisor forum about the local gay bars. But I was having very little luck.
Based on the articles I was finding and what other people had told me, it became clear that the queer scene in Bishkek is quite hidden. I was realizing that it was not safe to have your queer business or queer organization easy to find on the internet, and it was not safe to be openly queer either.
Finally, I got a response to one of my queries. It was Dastan, the KGZ queer activist who started the organization called Pink Summits that comes together to climb mountains and put rainbow flags at the top. I had found his Instagram (he has 13.5K followers!). His Instagram bio said, "queer activist" so I knew then that he is open about his status. I contacted him on Instagram and he responded quickly, saying that he would be in Bishkek the next week. He lives in Europe but was visiting his family the same time I was in town. I eventually got his WhatsApp number and we set up a time to meet at a local LGBT activist organization.
At first he sent me one address, then he messaged me again later, saying the location of the community center had changed and sent me another address. He said to call him when I got there, that he would come out and get me.
I could tell that it had to be somewhat secretive, as he couldn’t give me the name of the exact location or the exact address. He mentioned that it would be a meeting with “Indigo,” which I had heard was a queer organization here but couldn’t find any info about it online. The secrecy was for good reason too. Based on the articles I was reading online and what other people said, the queer situation was not safe here.
While I was waiting for the day of our meeting to approach, I sent Dastan a video of myself, just introducing myself and telling him, "I know you’re taking a risk inviting someone you don’t know from the Internet to come to your group meeting, I just want to let you know this is who I am and I’m excited to meet you." He responded with a message: “Looking forward to it.”
On the day of our meeting, I took a taxi to the address he gave me. I called Dastan and at that moment he was walking down the street with his friend. We greeted each other and he explained why he had sent me two different addresses to Indigo earlier in the week.
There had been some protests against the government recently and the government was blaming the protests on foreign influencers and LGBT influence that was inciting division in the country. Somebody unknown released a video on the same day that one of the protests were planned that published the name and location of Indigo, as well as the names, identities and email addresses of the employees of Indigo.
After that, at Indigo's old location, there were suspicious cars and people monitoring the comings and goings of the people at Indigo, with cars and people following them to and from work, and watching them.
Dastan said they didn’t know if it was the government or some private security organization, or just some hate crime groups. That was the problem in KGZ, that they didn’t know who the enemy was. They often used the pronoun “they” to describe this invisible entity that was targeting LGBT people and organizations, but they said it wasn’t always explicitly the government. Though they suspected it was government-funded or government-initiated, the government is not so bold as to be completely public about targeting these organizations and people—the government knew that this wasn’t a good look for international human rights standards and organizations. Such behavior could threaten funding from the US government and USAID. But at the same time the government didn’t like LGBT organizations and saw them as a threat to Kyrgyz traditional family values. The current nationalist government appealed to populist politics and appealed to people by instigating fear in them against LGBT people. Even though Dastan didn't know for sure who was stalking the Indigo employees, they all had suspected the current nationalist and populist government was behind it somehow.
So that is why Indigo had to change the location of their office recently, for security concerns because they were being stalked.
Like everything else, the situation was highly even, of course--it wasn't a completely underground organization and people didn't constantly hide in fear. Indigo had a website and an Instagram. Dastan was open and public about his queerness, to his family and everyone else--hosting a public-facing LGBT organization and posting queer activism related content to his public Instagram with 13.5K followers. Indigo was more public than I previously realized, too, with a public-facing Instagram account themselves (2,500 followers) and a website with all of its activities. Indigo and Dastan were happy to host me and be a part of my blog posts and research. It just took me a while to find them. Still, you will notice that I don't post pictures or information about the location or employees.
To be continued...
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