Russia’s highest-ranked female tennis player has come out as gay, as the parliament of the notoriously anti-LGBTQ country discusses expanding restrictions on discussions of LGBTQ topics.
In a video interview released Monday, Daria Kasatkina confirmed that she is in a relationship with another woman. Her girlfriend, 27-year-old Natalia Zabiiako, is a fellow top-tier athlete; a figure skater who won a silver medal for Russia at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Kasatkina, currently ranked No. 12 in the world, spoke frankly about her sexuality in an interview with Russian blogger Vitya Kravchenko. After the interview was posted on YouTube, she shared a photo of the couple on Twitter, writing “My cutie pie,” and tagging Zabiiako.
The 25-year-old tennis star, who currently lives and trains in Spain, slammed Russia’s longtime anti-LGBTQ policies, saying that she would “never” be able to hold hands with her girlfriend in public in her home country.
The French Open semifinalist also criticized Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, which outlaws public discussions or positive messages about LGBTQ issues as a way to stop minors from receiving information about “nontraditional sexual relationships.”
“This notion of someone wanting to be gay or becoming one is ridiculous. I think there is nothing easier in this world than being straight,” she said in an interview that was filmed in Barcelona. “Seriously, if there is a choice, no one would choose being gay. Why make your life harder, especially in Russia? What’s the point?” she added.
“I believe it’s important that influential people from sports, or any other sphere really, speak about it,” Kasaktina said, noting that “living in the closet is impossible. It is too hard, it is pointless,” she added. “Living in peace with yourself is the only thing that matters.”
Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, which went into effect in 2013, is a “classic example of political homophobia,” as described in a report by the Human Rights Watch, and it “targets vulnerable sexual and gender minorities for political gain.” It has “exacerbated the hostility LGBT people in Russia have long suffered, and also stifled access to LGBT-inclusive education and support services, with harmful consequences for children,” according to HRW.
Earlier this week the lower house of the Russian parliament introduced legislation designed to broaden the scope of the current law and also apply to film, television and internet content.
Kasatkina also criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling for an end to the conflict, which she described as a “complete nightmare.”
