When I was in Sweden for vacation (I live in Los Angeles) I met this Russian boy on the train. 16 years old (I'm 19) and he was really sweet! We exchanged Facebooks and I'm the only person he can talk to about being gay. He said where he is in Russia, you'd be in big trouble if people know you're gay. A few months ago, his cousin found his diary and he found his Facebook password aka he saw the personal conversations he's had with me. He says he wants to change him and get him a girlfriend or else he's telling everyone. He's really really scared and asking what to do, but I don't know. Now he's messaged me telling me he needs me and he's in trouble. What do I do?
Well I think best course of action for someone who is still a minor to play it low, act like you are cured... at least deanounce your sexuality if it will get you off of the hook. Some people in here probably will be strongly disagree with this but not everyone lives in mostly LGBT okay places. Until he can stand on his feet he should be submit instead of objecting. That will make his time smoother. He can live 4 or 5 years without letting everyone know his trueself by acting more carefull and smart. If you are living in a LGBT hostile enviroinment never leave clues that you are gay on anything anyone can reach easily, make your passwords for online accounts double or triple hard, delete your net past clear and keep your online persona seperate from your real life related accounts... i.e. facebook, mail, twitter and such. Lastly I don't know if you suggested him to come here but you should. At least it will make his time undercover more easier. Sorry if it sounds grimm but this is the only thing I can think depending on my experiences with gay guys in my country.
You can't do much except listen and be compassionate. He's a minor and he lives ten thousand kms away from you. My suggestion is to be there for him. If he's going through rough times it might be nice for him to have someone to talk to about the problems he's going though in his life. Don't you think? About the cousin. He should avoid him and play it low. There is a chance that the cousin will forget about him in a month or two. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything more. Russia is a huge and very complicated country. The only rule of thumb there is that there isn't one. You could also tell him about this site, although there are sites like this one in Russian. He just has to google them.
Problem is that you too are not in a position of being able to help. You can't do much by yourself, unless you are someone with money to wire him a ticket to LA and have him live as a refugee (I think being gay in russia is enough for that status) with you. So aside from that action, you can find some contact in russia. Find LGBT support groups (there are such group) there, and either you or that boy contact them and tell them your situation. They may be able to offer help. If you have reasonable fear for his life, that may warrant enough for further actions. I think you should prepare for a social media campaign calling help for that boy if he suddenly fall out of contact. Tell him to contact you often, and if he fall out of contact, that is a warning signal that his family has probably shut him off of internet, possibly worse. You can use that to raise concern on social media and possibly gather enough support to make a movement. For now though, tell him to lay low before we have to do such drastic measure. You can ask the local LGBT group to find a way to fake it for his family.
