Not Yaroslav Mogutin.
Perhaps the most prominent of the more than 40 people granted asylum because of their sexual orientation, Mogutin is a Russian journalist, gay rights advocate, performance artist and all-around troublemaker who sees himself as a modern-day Oscar Wilde.
Brash and self-assured, Mogutin burst onto the world stage April 12, 1994, when he and his American partner, Robert Filippini, applied for a marriage license at one of Moscow's official wedding palaces.
They were, as expected, turned down, but the highly publicized event landed their picture in newspapers and television broadcasts around the world.
At the time, Mogutin was only 19 and already a successful freelance journalist whose articles pulled back a curtain on the hitherto secret lives of Soviet and Russian gays.
"I was really [an] exceptional personality there," he says, with characteristic immodesty.
Mogutin lives in New York now, still sharing his life with Filippini, still writing scandalous articles for Russian newspapers and magazines, still glorying in life on the edge.
He was granted political asylum last summer, slightly more than one year after he fled Russia to avoid facing trial for "inflaming national, social and religious division" in his work.
Although homosexuality has been legal in Russia since 1993, Mogutin and his lawyer, Lavi Soloway, argued that he was targeted because of his sexual orientation.
His cause was taken up by several prominent organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, the PEN American Center and Amnesty International.
Mogutin is enjoying life as an expatriate, but he has no intention of being one forever. Asked if he would ever return to Russia, he responded without hesitation. "Yes. Definitely."
He saw no contradiction between this and his immigration status, despite having been granted asylum because his life and freedom would be at risk in his homeland.
"A roller coaster is a very scary thing for me," Mogutin said. "But every time I have a chance to ride one, I do it."
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