“I met Ivan in Berlin a year ago. We had been chatting on Scruff for a few days and finally decided to meet at Populus Cafe on the canal in Kreuzberg.
At the time Ivan was in Berlin studying Political Science for a year, before returning home to Russia.
Ivan was 22 years old. He had come out when he got to Berlin. But he was still careful on social media, didn’t show his face on the apps, never sent out any sex pics with his face in them.
Because he was afraid.
Being gay in Berlin was a lot different than being gay in Russia.”
Jeff Leavell 