RUSA LGBT: Russian-Speaking American LGBT Group
RUSA LGBT is a network for Russian-speaking LGBTQ individuals, their friends, supporters and loved ones. As part of the Blueprint Fellowship project, RUSA LGBT created a series of meet-ups and events exploring what it’s like to be a Russian-speaking LGBTQ Jew in the US today.
The event series culminated in a panel presentation offering different perspectives on Jewish and gay life in both the former Soviet Union and modern-day Russia. The event took place on November 6, 2013 at the JCC in Manhattan. Panelists included:
Yevgeniy Fiks, Moscow-born artist
Masha Gessen, journalist and author
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, spiritual leader of CBST
Dr. Jay Michaelson, founder of Nehirim and leading LGBT writer and activist
Dr. Bella Proskurov, licensed psychologist and RUSA LGBT activist
Moderator: Yelena Goltsman
Fellows
Yelena Goltsman RUSA LGBT Yelena Goltsman is a Kiev-born human rights and LGBTQ activist. She is the founder and co-president of RUSA LGBT, an organization that was formed in 2008 to establish a social network for the Russian-speaking LGBTQ community in the New York area and beyond. Yelena is a long-time member of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah and is an outstanding lay contributor to the life of the synagogue, organizing a wide range of programming and learning opportunities. Her concern for Russian- speaking LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers and those still oppressed in the former Soviet Union has made the issue a central component in CBST’s social justice work. Currently and for the past several years, Yelena is serving on the Membership Committee of the synagogue.
