The Norwegian Barents Pride Festival: Reflections on bravery for LBGTQI+ activists from Russia

Abstract

This article is based on two in-depth interviews with NGO representatives working with the Barents Pride festival, close to the Norwegian-Russian border. Organizations and activists from both sides of the border take a stand for equality and celebrate diversity and love. In the article, the concept of bravery is analyzed. Tatiana, a bisexual cisgender female Russian NGO worker and activist, is part of an organization fighting for LBGTQI+ rights in Russia. Steinar is a Norwegian representative for an international human rights organization. Faced with dominant Russian narratives that define homosexuality in negative terms, Tatiana and Steinar provide stories of bravery, creating a contextualized understanding of the need to stand together as fellow human beings in politically challenging times. Contextual narrative analyses of case studies play a valuable role in research by focusing on the term of bravery for minoritized groups fighting against systematic violence and oppression by political authorities.