When Russian authorities took away Yan Dvorkin’s 10-year-old adopted son last spring, there was nothing he could do but shout in frustration. His crime? He was a transgender, nonbinary person, married to a man. The official from child services had denounced him to prosecutors because he was open about his gender identity on social media — a crime in Russia for which he was convicted and then ordered to give up the son he adopted five years ago. “It was so mean and low and hypocritical,” said Dvorkin, who uses masculine pronouns. “I was so angry. I said, ‘Do you understand that because of you, my child cannot live in his own family?’ It was like talking to a wall.”
